


The Brothers Ylvisheart

by hoosonja



Category: Ylvis
Genre: Astrid Lindgren, Brødrene Løvehjerte
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-24
Updated: 2015-07-09
Packaged: 2018-03-08 21:26:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 15
Words: 32,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3224024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hoosonja/pseuds/hoosonja
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is my re-telling of the beloved story of the Brothers Lionheart...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

[](http://s1166.photobucket.com/user/andersparrett/media/brothersylvisaringker_zpse78eec4f.jpg.html)

My name is Bård. I am ten years old and I’m dying. It’s not such a big deal to me, I’ve known I’m going to die soon, I’ve been aware of it for years. Mama thinks I don’t know it, but I overheard it years ago, when a friend of mama’s came for a visit and told her how pitiful I looked and how sorry she was that I was dying, when she thought I was sleeping. 

I wasn’t really, I was just resting because I get tired really easily. I’ve always been ill and I’ve never been to school for one single day in my life. All I’ve ever wanted was to go there with Vegard, my handsome older brother, whom everybody loved. Vegard wasn’t sick or pale like me, he was tall and slim and he had shiny black hair like raven’s wings and it was wound in lazy curls around his pate. He had eyes that looked like melted chocolate and he had a slightly dark hue to his skin, even in the heart of winter. He was really smart and most important of all, he loved me.

The best time of the day was when Vegard came home from the school, cheeks red from the kisses of the sun and smelling wonderfully of fresh air. That was something I dreamt about too, walking together with Vegard in a park or forest, the sun on our faces and a cool, fresh breeze in the air.

We lived in a small fourth floor apartment in the Bergen city centre. My room, or in fact the living room, was the place where I spent my days. I could see the kitchen and the front door from my bed. The bed was comfortable enough, but I guess any bed would’ve gotten occasionally a bit painful, if one had to spend days on end on it. There were a couple of windows in the rooms, but these days they always had the curtains drawn, because I got a headache from the bright sunlight. There were floral prints on the wallpapers and the large red rug in the middle of the room was a bit threadbare. 

The doctors had said it might be good for me to get some fresh air every once in a while, so mama had tried opening the windows every morning for a little while. But I always felt cold, even in the warmest summer days when mama and Vegard would wear next to nothing, and mama had stopped opening the windows when she saw how badly I shivered. I couldn’t go out either because I could barely walk, the building didn’t have an elevator and mama couldn’t just carry me outside. Besides, she wouldn’t have had the time anyway, she worked during the days. I was alone at daytime, because mama didn’t have the money to put me into a hospice. And I wouldn’t have gone there in the first place. I was afraid that if I went into a place like that, I would never come out alive. Besides, Vegard wouldn’t have been there with me. 

Vegard was so kind to me, he came home straight from school, just to spend as much time with me as he possibly could, despite the fact that he had a lot of friends he could’ve played with instead. But he chose me over them and I loved him so much because of it. I think he felt sorry for me, because I was stuck at home all the time and also because he knew I was going to die soon.

***

Vegard walked slowly home from the bus stop and climbed up the stairs to the fourth floor. He stopped behind the door that said Ylvisåker on it and drew in a deep breath to steel himself. He could hear a wheezing cough from inside. It was Bård, his little brother. And he was dying. The idea made him sad, more sorrowful than he could comprehend. Bård was a wonderful little brother, he loved him dearly and he couldn’t understand how the universe could be so unfair that it had made him sick. There were many others who would’ve deserved to die instead, bad people who hurt others. Bård wasn’t like that, never him. He was his precious little dove and he would’ve gladly laid down his own life if it could’ve saved him.

Vegard opened the door quietly, in case his brother was asleep. His eyes quickly found the frail, pale child that lay on the sofa-bed, whose fever-bright blue eyes lit up at the sight of him. Vegard felt a stab of guilt for being all tall and healthy, compared to his bent and sickly brother. The white of the linens accentuated his pallor and he looked deathly ill even in the dimly –lit room.

***

“Hey pipsqueak,” Vegard greeted me from the door.

“Hey Vegard,” I answered. “How was your day?”

Vegard came to sit on my bed (or a sofa, as it were just a pull-out sofa on the corner of the living room, mama and Vegard both had rooms of their own).

“I had a good day, but I missed you a lot,” he said as he said every day.

Even when I knew he’d say it, it made me smile.

“I missed you too, Vegard,” as I said to him every day, and it made him smile.

“You look well today,” he lied. 

I could see the evasion of truth in his eyes, but I nodded in thanks despite of it. It was ok if he told me a fabrication like that, if it made him feel a bit better.

“Tell me about your day,” I urged and sat back, eager to hear him tell about all the everyday things he’d been up to.

They were regular things to him, nothing special about them, but I lived for those tales, filled with light banter between friends and the normalcy that I craved like air but could never have. Vegard’s stories were always chock-full of little details that made them live before my eyes. 

“Well, as I was walking to the bus this morning…”

Vegard launched into the narration, living his day all over again for my benefit. He used different voices for the people in his recitals and an occasional uncanny sound effect. The highlight reels of Vegard’s days were the high points in my life, and I felt like I was going through the day with him, meeting all the people he did and more. 

“How about we do your homework now?” he suggested.

He brought me homework every day from school, even when I never physically went there. I did the exercises and he taught me if there was something I didn’t understand. Mama had tried to protest it as “useless”, but Vegard had been adamant.

“All little boys need to learn about new things, bedridden or not,” he had said. 

And she had given in, like I knew she would. Nobody could ever resist Vegard’s pleading look.

Sometimes I pretended I didn’t understand something, because I loved the way Vegard concentrated when he was telling about things, whether it was about his day or the way the airplanes stayed in the air. He would get this serious look on his face and use his hands a lot when he talked. Occasionally his gestures would get so big he’d accidentally knock over a cup of water or something, but it only made us laugh and then he would mop up the mess and continue.

Occasionally in the evenings I got scared, I was afraid to die and desperate at the thought I’d have to leave Vegard behind and be alone without him. At those times Vegard would crawl under the covers and hold me in his arms and tell me stories in a low voice about a special place, Nangijala, where people went when they died.

“It's so beautiful there, Bård. The air is always fresh and smells of roses. When it rains, it’s soft and warm like a mist, not like the hard and vicious cold rain we have here in Bergen all the time. And when you go there, the time is different, you won’t have to wait for me long in there, it’s going to feel like mere days, even if it’s many decades here in this world. Before you know it, I'm there, knocking on your door and I’ll have so many stories to tell you. We’ll go to the river together and sit by the fire in the dark, listen to the sound of the stream and all of the animals in the forest. We’ll roast some sausages on the flames and drink fresh water from the river. Water is always good for drinking there.”

“But is the river far, because I can’t walk too far,” I asked worriedly.

“Don’t you worry about that,” Vegard said. “In Nangijala you’ll be healthy as a horse and you can run all night and all day if you want to and never get out of breath.”

“Oh, that sounds wonderful, Vegard,” I said wearily.

I closed my eyes and just before I fell asleep, I felt my brother’s gentle kiss on my burning forehead, soft as a feather.


	2. Finally

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The time comes to go to Nangijala

Mama kissed Bård on the forehead. 

“You have a good day, here’s a book for you to read and you can always call if something is wrong,” she added and pushed the phone a bit closer to Bård, smiling at him.

She had big dark bags under her red-rimmed eyes. She had been crying all night again and Bård felt a pang of guilt. _I wish I could die already,_ he thought.

She left for work and when Vegard woke up a couple of hours later for school, Bård had fallen back asleep. He was always tired these days, the end was not far for him. Vegard was whistling as he made lunch for himself to take to school. There wasn’t much to choose from, but at least the bread slices were thick and would stave off the worst hunger, and he’d get some milk from school to wash it down with. He finished with his food and turned to face Bård. He had a packed lunch on in each hand and he balanced the packets on both sides. 

“Which will you choose?” he asked with a grin. “The one with thick slices of bread and a little butter, or…” he paused for a dramatic effect “…or the ones with little butter and thick slices of bread?”

“Oh Vegard, you’re so silly! I don’t know, you choose,” Bård giggled.

Vegard made a show of weighing the packets in his hands and pretended to examine each carefully. In the end he chose one and lifted it up triumphantly.

“Here is the winner of today’s contest!”

He gave Bård a careful hug and kissed his forehead.

“You be a good boy and don’t get into any trouble while I’m at school,” he joked when he put the packet into the gas-powered fridge.

“I promise, Vegard,” Bård said seriously and waved after his brother.

But he didn’t know it wasn’t a promise he could keep. 

The morning went as normal, Bård looked at the clouds drifting in the sky and birds that flew past the window. When he got hungry, he went to get the bread slices his brother had prepared, but could only eat a little bit. He left the opened package on the bedside table and drifted off to sleep. 

He woke up to a choking feeling and when he opened his eyes, the room was murky with smoke. He called his mother at work.

“Mama, there is something wrong, there’s smoke in here!” 

“Calm down. Do you hear sirens?”

“Yeah,” Bård sniffed but started coughing. 

“Calm down, it’s going to be fine. The firemen will come and rescue you!”

“Ok, mama,” Bård said and put down the phone.

He had a hard time breathing and he decided to crawl under the sofa, like Vegard had taught him to do in situations like that. He squeezed under it easily, because he was so tiny. Soon he didn’t worry anymore, he lost his consciousness.

***

When Vegard was walking home from the bus stop, he felt anxious for some reason, like something was wrong but it wasn’t anything he could put his finger on. As he got closer, he heard a clamor of voices and someone was weeping. When he rounded the corner, he saw bright red fire trucks that had the Bergen fire department logo emblazoned on the side. Smoke was billowing out the windows on the third floor of his apartment building and the firemen were hosing in water as fast as they could. Vegard felt his heart sink. _Oh Bård,_ he thought. _You must be so scared right now, you poor thing!_

Vegard saw a couple of firemen escorting coughing people out through the front door, accompanied by thick black smoke. By chance he spotted his mama, who had fallen down on her knees clutching her chest, sobbing uncontrollably. Vegard hurried to her side.

“Mama, where’s Bård?” he asked, his voice husky with fear.

“Oh Vegard, my love, I don’t know. They haven’t brought him out!”

Vegard straightened his back and scanned the crowd. There was no sign of his little brother.

He went to one of the firemen and asked “Did you bring out a little boy from the fourth floor?”

The fireman hesitated, the one asking was just a young boy himself, but there was something regal about the way he had his back straight and head held high. The man shook his head, a regretful look on his face.

“I’m so sorry, my men have knocked on every door on the fourth floor and ushered people out. There was no little boy there to be found.”

Vegard nodded curtly, his beautiful mouth a thin line. He knew what had to be done. There was a side entrance to the building, and there didn’t seem to be any firemen guarding it. He slipped through the crowd and to the door, opening it carefully. The stairwell was smoky, but it wasn’t too bad, he thought. He quickly ascended the stairs to the fourth floor, the smoke and the heat getting worse the higher he got. He opened the door that said Ylvisåker on it, leaving it slightly ajar so they could get out quickly. Vegard walked straight to Bård’s sofa, spotting the opened, almost uneaten lunch.

But Bård wasn’t on the bed. Hoping he’d remembered all the fire-safety rules they’d talked about, Vegard peeked under the sofa. There he was, his frail baby brother. Vegard tried calling his name, but he didn’t stir and he had to pull him from underneath the furniture. Vegard tried his pulse: it was still there, quick and thready.

 _Oh thank god,_ Vegard thought as he hugged him tightly to his lap. _He’s still alive!_ “Don’t worry, pipsqueak, it’ll all be ok,” he said aloud.

He stood up, holding his limp brother in his arms. It felt like picking up feathers, he was so light. Vegard turned towards the door, when a part of the roof collapsed to block the exit. He retreated to the balcony with his light load and closed the door behind them. He knew people noticed them: there was a ripple that went through the crowd and like a magnet was pulling them, all eyes locked on the brothers Ylvisåker. There were pointing fingers and the firemen scurried to move the ladder closer. They started extending it toward the boys, when there was an explosion.

The resulting fireball caused the brothers to fly over the railing and it sent them hurtling to the ground. Vegard was still holding Bård tight in his arms and he managed to turn himself so that he hit the ground first. The pain was excruciating and Vegard could feel something had broken inside him. It was getting hard to breathe and even the feathery weight of Bård on his chest was too much. 

“Bård,” he whispered, bloody froth forming on his lips as the word came out.

“Vegard?” Bård asked. “What happened?”

“I’m dying, Bård. Looks like I’m going to Nangijala first after all,” he managed to say and coughed up some blood.

“I’ll see you soon then, Vegard,” Bård said and kissed him on his sooty cheek.

“Yeah, see you soon,” Vegard wheezed and then his head lolled on the side and Bård knew he was gone.

When the firemen and paramedics got to the place where the brothers had fallen, they announced Vegard dead on the scene, but he had shielded Bård with his body so successfully that he survived with minimal injuries.

There were headlines on Bergens Avisen and Bergens Tidende, Vegard’s name and picture on the front pages. “A hero brother dies saving his sibling from a fire!” They had interviewed Vegard’s teachers and friends, who all said Vegard was a true saint, always selflessly taking care of his ill little brother. There was a picture of the grieving mother too, but none of Bård. He didn’t mind, Vegard was the hero, he was just the brother.

The smoke inhalation had made Bård’s condition worse and they had to keep him in the hospital. When it was time for Vegard’s funeral, Bård was too ill to attend. It was ok to him: although he was indescribably sad that Vegard had given his life for him, he knew he would meet him soon in Nangijala. He got tears in his eyes thinking how sad mama would be when he left for Nangijala too. He blinked them away as he looked out the window. To his surprise he saw a white dove sitting on the windowsill, cooing softly. The airing window was slightly ajar and he heard the noise clearly. 

Suddenly he was sure he heard the dove say with Vegard’s voice “Don’t cry, pipsqueak.”

Bård’s eyes grew big with surprise. Had the dove actually said something?

“It’s me, Vegard,” it continued.

Bård drew in an amazed breath.

“Vegard? Are you a dove now?”

The dove shook its head.

“No, silly, the dove is just a messenger. I‘m sitting in Nangijala, in a lovely valley. Oh Bård, it’s even better than I imagined, the valley is so beautiful! And there is a little house here, by the brook, just perfect for the two of us. I miss you so much and I hope you come to me soon!”

Bård smiled wide with happiness that filled his heart so full it almost ached.

“Vegard, I’m so glad that you sent me a message! Yes, I’ll be there really soon, I think. Can you visit me every day until then?”

“No, I’m sorry little one, that won’t be possible. But I will see you soon-coo-coo”

The rest of Vegard’s words turned into the regular cooing of a dove when a nurse walked in, and the dove flew away.

“No Vegard, don’t leave me,” Bård cried after the bird.

The nurse had a sad look on her face and she stroked Bård’s flaxen hair. 

“I’m sorry Bård, but your brother is gone, he’s being buried today.”

“No no, he was right here, didn’t you see the white bird on the windowsill? It was a messenger from Vegard, he’s in Nangijala now, waiting for me!”

The nurse’s look turned to worry. She tried Bård’s forehead and said in alarm “You’re burning up again, child, I’ll go see a doctor and perhaps he’ll give you some medicine.”

Hearing Vegard’s voice again was so wonderful that Bård wished fervently he could join his brother soon in Nangijala. But his body failed him and hung on for another two months.

Finally one evening Bård felt it was time. The stars twinkled dimly in the sky, the city lights were making them hard to see. Bård could hear wind blowing outside and he guessed it would rain later. Cold, heavy rain like it almost always was in Bergen.

He wrote a note to his mother “See you in Nangijala!” and fell asleep, knowing he’d be there when he woke up. 


	3. Finally in Nangijala

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vegard finds himself in Nangijala, he meets Sofia and the villagers.

It was early evening when Vegard found himself in Nangijala. He had been in Bergen just a moment before and now he was standing in a beautiful green valley that was filled with cherry trees, the ripening berries weighing down the boughs. He didn’t feel any pain, even though he knew he had been badly hurt when he jumped down with Bård. He looked around, but Bård wasn’t there, which meant he had managed to save him. That was good, Vegard thought grimly. _He is there to make mama feel better about my death._

He shook his head. _Wow, I guess I really did die,_ he thought. Vegard looked about a bit more closely. He was standing on a path leading to a small, red building that had a well in the middle of the yard and a stable next to it, which had a fenced area attached to it. Some chickens roamed around in a cozy-looking yard that had a white picket fence around it. There was a narrow gate leading to the house and it had a nameplate with something written on it with a swirly script. Vegard couldn’t quite see what it said, so he stepped closer. 

It said “Brothers Ylvisåker, Bård and Vegard, live here.” Vegard’s mouth formed a surprised O. _It actually says our names in there! Could it really be meant for us?_ he wondered. He carefully opened the gate so the chickens wouldn’t flee and slid to the beautifully maintained yard. There was one of the cherry trees on the yard and a swing hung from a thick branch. _Oh, Bård is going to love that so much,_ Vegard smiled to himself. He walked to the house and was just about to go in, when a short, kind-looking woman opened the door, startling Vegard. 

“I’m sorry,” he started apologizing, but she interrupted him.

“No, I’m sorry,” she said. “I know I’m a bit late, I knew you were coming this afternoon and I was supposed to fill your larder, but got caught up in tending my doves and forgot the time. I’m Sofia,” she added and extended her hand to Vegard. “I’m pleased to finally meet you.”

Vegard was feeling confused about everything, but his mama had taught him good manners and he stretched out his hand to meet Sofia’s.

“Vegard Ylvisåker,” he said hastily. “Nice to meet you, Sofia. So you knew I was coming?”

“Yes, originally we were expecting just your brother, of course, but this morning my doves told me to make everything ready for you.”

“Your… doves told you?” Vegard queried.

“Yes, my doves are very special. You aren’t in Bergen anymore, dear.”

“I suppose I’m not. But this is all so confusing. I think I died and now I’m here. Where is _here_ exactly?” Vegard asked

“You are in Cherry Valley of Nangijala, of course. Didn’t you recognize it?”

“I thought I was just telling stories to Bård to make him feel better about dying, I had no idea this place was actually real.”

“Where do you think your stories came from, you silly boy?” Sofia chided him kindly.

Vegard just shrugged his shoulders.

“My doves, of course. I send them flying every night and they find dying children and they tell them stories about Nangijala, so they wouldn’t feel frightened anymore. You just happened to be perceptive to my birds and told the stories to Bård instead of them.”

“Oh,” was all Vegard could say.

Sofia smiled again and her deep dimples showed. 

“I am glad you did though, that way you got to know about it too,” she said.

Vegard nodded. “I suppose so.”

“Well, I’m going to leave you now to look around a bit. After you’re done, come find me, I live just around the bend of the path over there,” she said and pointed toward a thick copse of cherry trees some ways away. “I can take you to town and introduce you around.” 

“Thanks Sofia, I’ll surely come by later,” Vegard promised, already eager to peek around the little house that apparently belonged to him.

Sofia waved at him from the gate and closed it after her, heading toward her house. Vegard looked at the white door that led in, took a deep breath and opened it. There was a small anteroom there, with a place for jackets and shoes. He slipped off his footwear and padded into the house through a second door. That one opened into a spacious living room cum kitchen that had a large baking oven in the middle of the back wall, a wood burning stove standing at its side and some buckets of water by the sink. There was an alcove to the other side of the oven, a cozy-looking corner that had a soft bed, big enough for two young boys. Vegard grinned when he saw it. _Bård is going to love that bed. He’s always loved it when I’ve stayed with him, telling him stories until he fell asleep. Now he gets to stay by my side all through the night._

Vegard casually looked through all the cupboards in the kitchen and he noticed them to be stocked with dry goods and pretty china. On his way back out he also peeked into the larder, and was happy to find some cured meat, bread, salted fish and dried berries there. _I cannot wait to make Bård a nice meal when he gets here,_ he thought happily.

He walked out to take a look at the stable. The sweet smell of hay and equines greeted him when he opened the door, and to his great surprise two friendly-looking heads peered at him, making soft noises, like they were welcoming him. The horses were almost the same size and one of them had a tag “Grim” and the other “Fjalar” on the door. 

“Ooh, hello horses,” Vegard said aloud. _I wonder if you belong to us._ “Which one of you is mine?” he asked, not really expecting an answer. The smaller one, Grim, neighed gently and Vegard decided that she would be his. He patted their soft noses and gave each a carrot to munch on from a box that he saw on a shelf. 

When he walked back out, the chickens ran in different directions as he passed through the flock. He crossed through the gate and headed toward Sofia’s house. The path between the houses was well-worn and it was lined with more cherry trees. Vegard was tempted to snatch some cherries, but resisted the urge, knowing he’d get an aching belly as a punishment. He’d just have to wait patiently a few more weeks. _I wonder if it is still time for cherries when Bård comes,_ he thought as he walked ahead. 

He came to a lovely white cottage that had a large coop for the doves. Sofia was holding a white one in her hands and she sent it flying. Vegard thought he saw something tied to its leg. Sofia noticed him and smiled kindly.

“Hullo there Vegard, so nice that you came by already!”

“Hi, it was nice to come here. Tell me, Sofia, do the horses belong to me and my brother?”

“Yes, Grim and Fjalar, they’re lovely horses and indeed belong to you two. Did they already choose which one wants to be yours?”

“They did,” Vegard grinned.

“Good, good. You need to start riding as soon as you can, that’s the best way to move around here.”

“Ok, I will, as the first thing tomorrow morning,” Vegard promised.

Sofia nodded approvingly.

“Now, let me introduce you to my doves.”

She turned to face the birds and in a perfectly serious tone said: “My darling doves, here’s Vegard, he’s our friend.”

To Vegard’s amazement the birds cocked their heads like they understood what she was saying.

“Do they… understand you?” Vegard asked carefully.

“Of course they do, my dear. They are not just any birds, you know, they’re very special messenger doves.”

“I thought I saw a message attached to the leg of the dove you just sent flying.”

She nodded.

“That too, but they can also carry messages back to your old world.”

“Oh, really? Could I send a message to Bård?”

“Of course,” she said. “As soon as Bianca comes back from her trip. She is my most special dove.”

“Thank you so much, Sofia. Will you let me know as soon as she does?” Vegard asked eagerly. He wanted to get a word to Bård that he had arrived there.

“Yes dear, naturally. But now we need to go meet the others.”

“Others?” Vegard was flummoxed.

Sofia chuckled. “Surely you didn’t think we were the only inhabitants around here? The village is just on the other side of that hill.”

Vegard felt stupid and blushed. “Of course, let’s go meet everybody,” he said anyway.

They walked together in amiable silence and when they reached an inn called “The Golden Rooster,” Sofia pushed Vegard in ahead of her. He stumbled in awkwardly and was met with stares that were straight-forward, but friendly. A large, jovial man came to greet Vegard with open arms. He walked to him and enveloped him in a bear hug which he felt he had to return. 

“Welcome, young Ylvisåker. Welcome to Cherry Valley.”

 _So they ALL know me already?_ Vegard wondered. He bowed a bit and thanked the man.

“I am Jossi, the owner of this inn, but people usually just call me Rooster, after the inn.”

“Nice to meet you, Mr.Rooster.”

That made people laugh good-naturedly and Vegard grinned back at the chuckling folk. Everybody laughed, except a man in the back corner, who looked grimly down on his mug of mead.

“Who’s that?” Vegard asked Sofia in a whisper.

“Hubert the Hunter,” Sofia answered.

“Why does he look so serious?” Vegard asked.

“That’s a long story,” Sofia sighed. “I will tell you all about it later.”

Sofia’s tone left Vegard feeling uncomfortable for some reason, why exactly, was something he couldn’t put his finger on. Regardless of what it was, he felt like a cold blast of wind blew at the back of his neck at the thought and he shivered involuntarily.

“Let’s sit over there,” Sofia said and pointed at an empty table. 

Vegard obediently sat on a chair and the next moments were spent meeting almost all the people in the inn. Somehow the word of his arrival had travelled around the town and more people poured in and in the end Vegard had met every single inhabitant there was. He felt happy, but exhausted and Sofia told him they should get going. 

Vegard yawned. “Yeah, I am feeling pretty tired. Good night, Sofia,” he said.

“Good night, Vegard. See you tomorrow!” 

“See you!”

He went home, fed the animals and ate some dried meat with a slice of bread. Then he climbed into his cozy bed. As he lay in the dark, he thought about Bård. _I wish you were here, my dear, and I hope you don’t miss me too much. I know I miss you like crazy, but I know I’ll see you soon._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, absolutely nothing happened here, I hope you didn't find it too boring...


	4. Visits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vegard familiarizes himself with Nangijala and gets to visit Bård. He also learns of the dark undercurrent that flows under the serene surface of the land.

In the following days Vegard learned how to ride a horse. His first attempt was a rather pathetic one, it must be noted. Vegard woke up early and made himself a cold breakfast because he wasn’t quite sure on how to use the wood-burning stove yet. He dressed, and fed the horses and the chickens. He let Fjalar, the stallion, into the enclosure but held Grim back.

“We’re going for a ride today, girl,” he told her.

Grim nickered softly at him and tried to nibble on his shirt sleeve. He pushed her soft nose away gently and told her to wait patiently. Vegard knew the basic idea behind saddling a horse, he had read about it in a book, but he had never actually tried it in practice. He brushed Grim carefully and then threw the saddle blanket on her back, made sure there weren’t any wrinkles that could cause irritation and then hoisted the saddle on. He breathed in the wonderful smell of the supple leather and wondered at the beautiful swirls and flowers that adorned it. The next bit was the tricky one: he had to fasten the belt under Grim’s belly. 

“Oh dear, how am I supposed to do this?” 

He tightened the belt as far as he dared, so that two of his fingers fit in between the horse and the belt, for he was afraid he would hurt Grim.

“Is this good, Grim?” he asked, but the horse was silent.

“I suppose it is then,” he said and fed her the bit and attached the reins. 

He took a good hold of the saddle and the reins and tried to climb on from the right side of the horse. When he shifted his full weight on the saddle, it slid sideways and Vegard fell on his butt with a loud thump. Grim turned to look at him with a clearly astonished look on long her face and Vegard burst into laughter.

“I guess I need to make the belt a bit tighter the next time around,” he giggled. 

He got up, dusted his pants with his hand and tried again, this time with more force on the tightening. The second time was the charm and he managed to get on the saddle without further incident. 

“What now, Grim? How do I get you to move?” he wondered.

Since he didn’t do anything to indicate to Grim that he wanted to move ahead, she decided to take a snack and walked out of the stable to a spot of grass. Vegard paled and held on to the saddle for dear life.

“Grim, what are you doing?” he asked with a quaking voice. He had absolutely no idea on how to control the horse. 

“Grim, please stop eating,” he pleaded, but the horse was engaged with the fresh grass and ignored him.

 _Let’s try this,_ he thought and pulled on the reins, managing to bring up her head. She clearly wasn’t amused, Vegard could tell it from the way she snorted at him. 

“Ok Grim, now that I have your attention, please move forward,” he instructed her, but nothing happened.

Next he tried a motion he knew from his childhood, swinging back and forth like he was riding a wooden horse, but obviously it didn’t have any effect. Then he tried slapping the reins, but that only caused Grim to take a few annoyed steps sideways. An accidental application of pressure from his legs made her stir a bit but Vegard had no idea why she had moved, until he analysed his posture and realised the only thing that had done anything were his thighs, applying the right amount of pressure to it.

“Oh yes Grim, here we go!” he said happily as she started walking slowly. Vegard immediately figured out that the reins were the way to steer her and soon he was riding along in at a snail’s pace.

Vegard rode carefully, concentrating on the process itself and wasn’t able to enjoy the beautiful countryside at all. If he had looked, he would’ve seen a lovely brook that had a little white bridge going over it, just a the perfect place for looking at sunsets. He might have noticed that there was a long, knotted rope hanging from a tree by the water, clearly meant for little boys to jump into the stream with. When he was riding by the hill going up, he could have seen a small cave, most likely good for camping. But he saw none of it and about half an hour of riding was all he could take, and when he returned home and slid down, his legs were shaking and aching. He brushed Grim, gave her a carrot as a thank you and sent her out with Fjalar.

He walked to Sofia’s to ask her help with the stove; his going was slow and a bit painful, apparently the riding had done a number on his city-boy muscles. _I’m not looking forward to waking up tomorrow,_ he thought morosely, anticipating the ache to come. 

“Hi Sofia,” he greeted the older woman, who was probably in her forties, but to young Vegard looked like she was fifty-something.

“Hullo Vegard, how are you faring today?” she asked him.

“Oh, I’m excellent, thank you ma’am. I went for a little ride on Grim.”

“Oh? How did that go?”

“Fine, eventually,” Vegard chuckled. “Had a little trouble getting started, which reminds me, could you show me how to use the stove? I’ve never lit a fire to one in my life.”

“Of course, dear. Just give me a moment to finish feeding my birds and I’ll join you.”

Vegard nodded and turned back. He hadn’t quite reached his house when she caught up with him. They went in and she showed him how to do it a few times. Vegard’s first attempts at lighting the fire were unsure, but he got the hang of it quite soon.

“There you go, Vegard, now you know how to build a fire to your stove!”

“Thank you so much, Sofia, it’ll be nice to eat a warm meal!” 

“You know that you can always come to my place to eat, yeah?”

“I appreciate the offer, but I’ll have to learn to do it all on my own because Bård will be here soon and I need to be ready to take care of him.”

“You’re such a good brother, Vegard,” Sofia said.

Vegard blushed lightly, he was unaccustomed to such open praise for something he considered to be his duty, but he smiled regardless.

Vegard spent the rest of the day getting familiar with cooking on the wood stove: he made several small batches of food to try out how different things worked, how long he had to cook the ingredients and so on. In the evening he dove into his bed, bone weary, but happy with his accomplishments. _I wish you were here, Bård, to share all this with me,_ he thought before falling asleep.

***

It was extremely painful for Vegard to wake up the following morning, but the pain lessened every day as his riding got better.

At the end of the week Sofia called on Vegard one evening, saying: “Bianca came back this morning. She’s had all day to rest, so I think she can carry the message to Bård now.”

“Thank you so much, Sofia!” Vegard beamed. “How do we do it?”

“You come sit on the bench in my yard and hold Bianca in your hands as long as it takes to make the connection.”

“What connection?” Vegard asked, perplexed.

“You’ll see. Just come now,” Sofia urged him.

Vegard obeyed and soon he was sitting in Sofia’s garden, his back against the wall, with a dove in his hands. He felt a bit silly but breathed deeply and relaxed, sensing the bird’s frantic heartbeat against his palms. Suddenly it seemed like he got a double vision, it was truly bizarre. He could see normally with his own eyes, but at the same time he somehow also saw through Bianca’s too. And the stereo effect was happening with his hearing as well, he heard normally, but also what Bianca heard. 

“What is this,” he asked and felt strange when his own voice echoed in his head just a millisecond later.

“Don’t worry, it seems funny right now, but it gets easier when she flies away. Just tell her where you want her to go and send her off.”

“Fly to my Bård, sweet Bianca, and hurry!” Vegard whispered and threw the bird in the air.

She spread her white wings and soared high, making Vegard’s head spin with vertigo.

“It’s easier if you close your eyes, that way you’ll only see what Bianca sees,” Sofia suggested.

“Anything to make it easier,” Vegard said, fighting hard against nausea.

Sofia lowered her hands to his temples and massaged lightly. It instantly made him feel better.

“Thank you,” he sighed, relieved.

Vegard squeezed his eyes tightly shut while he watched through Bianca’s eyes at the ground that seemed miles away. _This feels like I was flying myself,_ he mused. _I wish I could do this all the time. This must be so much better than piloting an aeroplane,_ he thought. He flew with Bianca a good long while and when she finally landed on a windowsill, he was almost disappointed, until he noticed it was a hospital and Bård was on a bed.

“Bård!” he yelled with all his might. All that came out of Bianca’s beak was soft cooing. Sofia touched Vegard’s shoulder, startling him.

“Son, don’t yell, Bianca cannot carry loud noise across.”

Vegard nodded and tried again, more quietly this time. He saw that Bård had tears in his eyes and it made him choke. 

“Don’t cry, pipsqueak,” he pleaded hoarsely. The emotion made it hard for him to speak. Bård was there, almost close enough to touch.

The look of utter amazement on Bård’s face was almost comical to witness.

“It’s me, Vegard,” he said and Bård clearly heard, because he drew in a sharp breath.

“Vegard? Are you a dove now?”

Vegard had to put a hand on his mouth to keep in the giggles that made his shoulders shake. He managed to rein in his mirth enough to shake his head at the silly notion. He explained to Bård how they could communicate. Vegard could see how the joy lit up Bård’s thin, pale little face and he was filled with the same sense of jubilation. 

But when Bård asked him if he could come and visit him every day, Vegard felt such pain in his heart it was like someone tried to yank it out of his chest. Tears ran down his face when he had to tell Bård they wouldn’t be able to talk again before he came to Nangijala. Then a nurse walked in and Bianca flew away. Vegard’s connection to the bird was severed due to his strong emotional reaction and Sofia pulled him into her arms as he wept uncontrollably after his beloved brother.

Vegard calmed down slowly and Sofia begun telling him about how things were in the neighboring town, Thorn Rose Valley, to distract him from his sorrow. He soon forgot himself and his own feelings when he listened to Sofia’s sad tale about the plight of the inhabitants of the other valley. 

“Tengil’s men come in and under his orders they collect all the food they can lay their hands on. If someone is found hiding meat for example, they will be beaten severely. Those evil men have also taken the fighting-aged men of Thorn Rose Valley into slavery and now they serve Tengil in his mines,” Sofia told him.

“Really? Tengil just takes their food and forces the men into slavery?”

“Indeed he does,” nodded Sofia gravely.

“Isn’t there something we could do to help them?” Vegard asked, appalled at the unfolding tale.

“Well, now that you mentioned it…” Sofia said and told Vegard about the resistance movement and the fact that they were in dire need of new blood. “From what I know of you, I feel you are a very brave young man and that you would be an absolutely perfect addition to our group. Would you like to become a part of the people who fight against the tyrant Tengil? It will be dangerous and people will die, I will not lie, but in my heart of hearts I cannot just stand by and not ask you to join in, no matter how dangerous it might be.”

Vegard felt his heart sink. People will die? _What will happen if I die before Bård even gets here?_

Sofia saw his hesitation.

“If you’re worried about your brother…”

“I am!” he said angrily. “You are asking me to possibly sacrifice my life for people I’ve never even met. And what if I die before Bård gets here? He shows up one day just to find out that I’ve left without him again! He would be devastated.”

Sofia squirmed uncomfortably.

“Yes, I see your point, I completely do. And I swear I wouldn’t even ask you if it wasn’t absolutely necessary. What do you say if I set up a meeting with some others from the resistance and you decide after that? Nobody will force you to do anything against your will, I promise.”

Vegard nodded slowly.

“I suppose I could agree to that,” he said hesitantly.

“Great! I’ll send off some birds right away and I hope they’ll make it.”

“Why wouldn’t they?” Vegard asked, surprised.

“Some of my birds never made it home. I suspect there is some foul play involved in this.”

“Oh? That’s terrible!”

“Yeah, it makes me want to cry and scream at the same time,” Sofia said grimly. 

“I’m so sorry,” Vegard said, feeling helpless.

“Me too son, me too. But I think you need to go home now, you’ve had a long day.”

“Yeah, I agree,” Vegard said, stifling a yawn. “Good night, Sofia!”

“Good night, dear. Sleep tight!”

Vegard walked home, his head buzzing with thoughts. The situation sounded dire, but there was Bård to consider. He couldn’t possibly risk dying on him for a second time. He fed the horses and chickens before getting in and diving under the covers. _Oh Bård, what am I gonna do? I don’t wanna let you down, but I don’t think I can turn my back on this either. I wish you were here so we could figure this out together._

***

Vegard woke the next morning when the rooster crowed at sunrise. He got up, did the morning chores and after breakfast he walked toward Sofia’s with a heavy heart. The day seemed lovely, but no amount of birdsong could lighten Vegard’s mood. _What am I gonna do? I hate this so much…_

Sofia had called the resistance fighters together in her home, so Vegard could meet them and they could plead their case and try to get him to join in. Vegard felt torn: he wanted to do the right thing – both by the resistance and by Bård. He had never walked away from responsibility in his life and he didn’t want to start doing so now. Vegard hated feeling like this, the choices were hard and possibly had life-altering consequences, regardless of what he chose to do.

“Vegard, this is the resistance,” Sofia said with a sweeping gesture. “And this is Orvar, our leader,” she continued, pointing at one man in particular. Vegard looked at a burly, middle-aged man that had dark eyes and hair that reminded him of his own.

Vegard nodded at the men and women gathered in front of him. He felt baffled, was he really important enough for all these people to come around and ask for his help? _And what exactly can I even offer them?_ he thought.

“We came to tell you about the resistance, because we need all the able-bodied men with us. Tengil has robbed us of our brothers, husbands and fathers, not to mention our children. They have taken our offspring to use as they please, all the kids who are old enough are either crawling in Tengil’s mines and or are brought up to be Tengil’s men. And our women… Most of the beautiful ones are gone too, including my wife,” Orvar told Vegard. 

One after the other the people stepped forward and told Vegard about Tengil’s evil deeds. 

“They took my younger sister, who was barely old enough to be a woman. They did unspeakable things to her and made me watch. When I tried to stop them, they hit her and told me they would kill her next if I even moved a muscle or looked away,” a harried-looking young man said.

“Tengil’s men dragged my son from under his bed, where he had been hiding. As a punishment for trying to hide, they branded him with a cattle iron in the middle of his chest and took him away. He was only six years old,” a crying woman told Vegard.

There were countless similar stories, each worse than the previous. Vegard was aghast, how could someone do such things?

Sofia came closer to Vegard.

“Remember when I told you I’d tell you about Hubert the Hunter, why he’s so sullen? Well, that’s because of Tengil too. He had been married to his young, beautiful wife for just a few years. They had a son, a lively little thing. One day, when Hubert came home from a hunting trip, he returned to an empty house. The place had been tossed around and there was no sign of his family anywhere. When he asked the neighbors, they told him Tengil’s men had come, taken his son first because of his size and when his wife had resisted, they had beaten her senseless and taken her with them as well. Hubert stopped talking to people after that and these days he rather spends his days in the forests and mountains instead of his lonely home. I guess it’s too painful for him to see house barren.”

“Oh,” was all Vegard could say. _This sounds so terrible, I’ll have to help them, no matter what. I’ll just need to be careful and not get caught or worse,_ he thought. “What use could you possibly have for me? I’m just a city boy, I don’t know much about being a resistance fighter.”

Orvar lay laid his hand on Vegard’s shoulder and to him it felt like the weight of responsibility that rested on his shoulders. 

“You can do a lot. Carry messages, deliver food, spy on Tengil’s men…”

“Will you teach me?” Vegard asked Orvar.

“We’ll all teach you and you will learn as you go along, like we’ve all learned,” he replied.

Vegard realised how useful it was that he could ride a horse and that he had a good memory for details. He couldn’t remember messages word for word if his life depended on it, but he would be able to recall numbers of men, the colors of their horses and such without any trouble.

He nodded. “I’ll do my very best. You just need to promise that if anything happens to me, you’ll explain it to Bård and take care of him.”

Sofia and the others nodded gravely.

“Of course, that goes without saying.”

“Good,” Vegard said.

***

In the following weeks Vegard familiarized himself with the art of spying, first by practicing on the villagers and reporting his observations to Orvar and then slowly progressing into spying on Tengil’s men. He felt sick watching them, how they stole food from the already starving people of Thorn Rose Valley and how they treated the children they had taken. There were many instances when he wanted to scream from frustration, because all he could do was watch. He was no match for a group of armed soldiers, he could only observe silently and tell about the things he saw.

Once he almost got caught. He had been on a mission to find out where the soldiers were keeping their food and he had been sneaking too close. Suddenly a soldier had pointed at him and yelled after him. Vegard had run back to Grim as fast as he possibly could, but the soldier had almost gotten a hold of his foot when he was climbing into the saddle. His heart had beaten so fast he almost had felt like it was about to pop out of his chest. The soldiers had chased him into the Thorn Rose Valley and he had just barely been able to distract them enough to gallop to Mathias’, who then in turn hid him in a secret closet he had behind his kitchen cupboard. Mathias was an old man, who offered safety to the resistance fighters and because of his age he had vast knowledge of the surrounding mountains that came in handy to the spies like Vegard.When the soldiers had come looking for him, he was nowhere to be seen. It had taken him a long while to be able to breathe normally again. Things like that had made Vegard feel much older than his thirteen years, and the look in his eyes was no longer that of a child, but of a seasoned veteran.

Still the most shocking experience for him was the time when Tengil’s men came for Orvar, because Vegard was really looking up to the man and considered him to be somewhat of a father figure to him. Vegard was at Mathias’ where they were planning Vegard’s next journey to the mountains to spy on Tengil’s men, when they heard a commotion next door. They went out to see what it was about and saw soldiers.

Orvar was in his yard, picking cherries, when the soldiers came, attacked him and despite his vigorous fighting took him with them. All the while one of the soldiers was reading aloud the order for Orvar’s arrest. 

“You, Orvar of Thorn Rose Valley, have been sentenced into death for being the leader of resistance. You will be fed to Katla the dragon.”

Vegard blanched when he looked how the soldiers chained Orvar and threw him on the back of a cattle wagon.

“Matthias,” Vegard said. “How could they know Orvar was our leader?”

Matthias shook his head.

“The only explanation is that there is a traitor in our midst.”

Vegard drew in a shocked breath. _How could anyone ever think it was ok to spill secrets to Tengil’s men, to be on their side after the things they’d done?_ “That’s terrible,” he said aloud.

“Yes it is,” said Matthias seriously. “Now we don’t know whom to trust anymore.”


	5. Together again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bård is finally in Nangijala

Bård had closed his eyes in a hospital bed in Bergen, but when he opened them again, he was standing on a path, leading to a lovely little house. It was red with white corners and had a white picket fence around it, just like in all the fairy tales. He felt around for his pockets and realised he was no longer in his pyjamas, but wore a little blue tunic that made his eyes look even brighter blue than they normally did. He looked around in wonder: everything was so lush and green and there were trees filled with dark berries. He walked toward the house and he saw a sign on the gate. It said: “The brothers Ylvisåker live here.” His heart leapt in his chest for joy, that house belonged to him and Vegard! He hurried through the gate and was about to call his brother, when he saw a note on the door that said: “Gone fishing. Just follow the path down to the stream and you’ll find me!” It was signed with a V.

Bård could feel a huge smile stretching his face, he was going to see Vegard again soon. _It seems like forever since I last saw him,_ he thought. He turned around and looked for a path that might lead to the stream Vegard had mentioned. There were only two paths: the one he had just used and another, meandering and less trodden. He chose the unknown one and almost without even realising it, started running along it. It felt so effortless and easy, unlike it had been before. 

His quick strides carried him to the bank of a small river. He saw a pretty white bridge crossing it, but more importantly, a dark-haired boy, leaning leisurely, on the grassy bank and lazily bopping his fishing rod up and down.

“Vegard!” Bård yelled at the top of his voice.

Vegard lifted his gaze from the water when he heard someone call his name. He saw a little boy with blonde, almost caramel-colored hair running toward him. Suddenly all the strength disappeared from his hands and he dropped the rod to the ground. He clambered up as fast as he possibly could for his trembling knees and started running toward the boy. He could feel tears running hotly down his face, but he didn’t care. All he cared about was the sight of his beloved brother, running to him, grinning his mischievous smile, cheeks flushed from the exercise. Vegard took a hold of him, spinning him around so his feet left the ground. When he got dizzy, he stopped and pulled Bård even closer to his chest, holding him tight to his heart. Both boys were crying and held on to each other as hard as they could, never wanting to let go.

“Bård,” Vegard sniffed. “I’ve missed you so much you wouldn’t believe it!”

“Me too!” Bård cried.

“I’m so happy you’re finally here!” Vegard sighed when their tears had run dry.

“Don’t ever leave me again!” Bård said.

“I promise to try not to,” Vegard said seriously, thinking about all the dangers he faced as a resistance fighter. “I’ll do my very best.”

Vegard felt the mood needed to get lighter, so he started tickling Bård who soon begun giggling enough that tears flowed again, ones of mirth this time. Bård’s laughter was music to his ears, he loved hearing it. Now that the mood was right, Vegard decided to tell Bård what he had been doing while he waited for him. They leaned on the grassy river bank and Vegard told Bård about the first time he tried to get on a horse, which made him giggle all the harder.

“When I tried lighting a fire, at first I was absolutely hopeless,” he confessed. “Sofia had to show me several times before I got the hang of it.”

“Sofia?” Bård queried.

“The Queen of the Doves, you’ll meet her tomorrow, I think,” Vegard answered. “You’ll like her, she’s nice,” he continued.

“Could you show me how to build a fire?” Bård asked.

“Yeah, as soon as we’ll catch some fish first. Then we get to fry them on the fire for lunch.”

“We get to catch our own lunch? What if we don’t catch any?” Bård asked, worried.

“Don’t fret, there’s plenty of food in the house,” Vegard assured him.

Vegard handed Bård the other fishing rod he had brought with him as a spare. Bård looked unsure about what to do with it and Vegard showed him how to cast the line on the water. They sat happily side by side in silence, watching the corks gently bopping up and down as little aquatic creatures nibbled on the baits.

Suddenly Bård gasped: “What’s happening? My cork just went under water!”

Vegard smiled. “You have something on your hook! Let’s pull it out,” he said.

Together they dragged the large fish on dry ground and it lay on the grass, its silver scales sparkling in the sun, gasping for breath. Bård’s eyes watered in pity.

“Do we have to kill it? It’s so pretty …”

“Yeah we do. In Nangijala we cannot just go to a corner store and buy what we want. Here we need to hunt or grow our food.”

Bård nodded, biting his lower lip.

“Look, it’ll be over soon,” Vegard assured him.

He picked up a rock and hit the fish on the head, and it stopped moving. Then he took out his knife, gutted the fish and threw the innards into the water. For a little while they floated there, but soon smaller creatures had eaten them all.

“Did you see that, Bård?” Vegard pointed.

“Yeah,” he said quietly.

“Others got to eat too. That’s the way it works in the nature. Look, let’s build a fire now,” he said to distract Bård from his sorrow over the fish.

He showed Bård how to set up the twigs and dry grass so that they would catch fore fire quickly and then took out his matches.

“You’ll need to be extra careful with these, they’re not the same kind we had back in Bergen. These will catch fire from any surface.”

“Ok,” Bård nodded seriously.

“Would you like to try?” Vegard asked.

“Could I?” Bård asked, his blue eyes big as saucers.

“Sure!” Vegard smiled.

Bård’s match caught fire right away and he had a pleased look on his face. He pushed the lit match to the dry grass and when it caught flame, he carefully fanned it with his hand, just like Vegard told him to do. They stuck a stick inside the fish and propped it up, close enough to the fire that it would cook. Soon the lovely smell of freshly cooked fish wafted in the air and Vegard heard Bård’s stomach rumble.

“Hungry?” he asked.

“Starving!” Bård answered.

Vegard dug out a loaf of bread and a pinch of salt from a little pouch in his bag and they each took some fish to put on a piece of the bread.

“Ooh, this is so good,” Bård mumbled with his mouth full.

“Isn’t it? Sofia baked the bread,” Vegard said.

“This is like the best meal I’ve had in my life,” Bård sighed happily and patted his full belly.

“Pretty much all my meals here have made me feel like that, you know,” Vegard said.

They lay in the warm autumn sunshine that made them break into sweat.

“What would you think about a swim?” Vegard suggested.

“I don’t know how,” Bård said in a sad little voice.

“Don’t worry, I think you might be in for a pleasant surprise,” Vegard said.

“But I don’t have any swimming trunks,” Bård tried. 

He was nervous about the idea of getting in the water. Vegard picked up on it and said: “I won’t let anything bad happen to you and you don’t need trunks, there’s no one here but us.”

Bård felt reassured enough and stripped off his clothes, just like Vegard. Soon they were in the water, splashing and squealing at the coolness of it. 

Bård suddenly fell down when his foot slipped and Vegard’s heart skipped a beat, but before he even had time to react, Bård’s head resurfaced and he yelled: “I can swim Vegard, look!” and showed him that he really could. He’d never been swimming in his life, but it had to be the magic of Nangijala that gave him the ability now. The boys swam together for a while and then got up, shivering in the light wind.

“Let’s go home and get some towels, ok?” Vegard suggested.

Bård nodded, his teeth chattering. They quickly pulled their tunics on and ran home. Only after they’d dried up, Bård stopped to look around the house.

“Wow, is this really ours?” he marvelled.

“Yeah, it is. And look at the bed,” Vegard said.

Bård squealed happily and dove into the soft mattress, only to get up and start jumping up and down. Vegard was about to tell him not to, but bit his tongue to keep silent. He let Bård jump for a while, because he’d never been well enough to do it before and the pure joy on his flushed face melted Vegard’s heart. 

“Come on, jump to me,” he said a bit later and held out his arms.

Bård made a giant leap without hesitation and ended up on Vegard’s lap. He wound his arms around his neck and landed a big sloppy kiss on his cheek. 

“I’m so happy to be here, Vegard,” he said.

Vegard’s eyes misted up again, for joy. He buried his face in Bård’s tousled hair and whispered: “Me too.”

He pushed Bård away gently. “Would you like to see the horses now?”

“Horses?” Bård’s voice rose and cracked. “We have horses?”

“Yeah,” Vegard grinned.

Bård was up in a flash and he took Vegard’s hand in his, pulling him toward the front door.

“Let’s go!”

Together they walked toward the stables. Bård’s smaller hand was sweaty with excitement in Vegard’s grasp. He opened the door and Vegard could see how disappointed he was when he found the stalls to be empty.

“Where are they?” he asked.

“Right out there,” Vegard said. “Let’s take some carrots to them.”

Bård grabbed some and rushed toward the backdoor that led to the pasture. He turned to Vegard with a questioning look on his face and when he nodded, Bård opened the door. When he saw the horses, his hand flew in to cover his open mouth.

“They’re ours?” he breathed in wonder.

“Yeah,” Vegard affirmed. “Which do you think is yours?”

Bård looked at the horses for a moment.

“The smaller one?” he suggested.

“Nope, that’s Grim, my horse. Yours is the bigger one, his name is Fjalar.”

“Fjalar,” Bård said aloud, like tasting the name. “That sounds nice.”

“He’s a nice horse. Would you like to go for a ride?”

“Yeah!” Bård squealed.

Vegard brought the horses in, they brushed them together and Vegard put the saddles on. He helped Bård on Fjalar’s back and felt a stab of fear, because Bård looked so tiny on the stallion’s back.

He tried to hide his feelings and just asked nonchalantly: “You ok up there?”

“I’m fine,” Bård beamed.

Vegard nodded and climbed on the saddle too. The horses walked slowly, so that Bård would get accustomed to the swaying gait of a horse. Vegard kept a close eye on him just in case, but Bård looked radiantly happy and sat in the saddle like he was born there. They rode a small round trip and then Vegard steered them back home. Then they took care of the horses and returned them to the pasture.

“That was so much fun!” Bård smiled from ear to ear.

“It was awesome,” he agreed.

“I’m hungry, do we have something to eat?” Bård asked.

Vegard was so happy to hear Bård’s words. Back in Bergen Vegard had been constantly worried about his lack of appetite and now it seemed like he couldn’t get enough food.

“Sure, I’ll give you a basket and you can pick some cherries for the dessert, while I cook something.”

“Yay, I love cherries,” Bård smiled.

Vegard gave him a container and went inside to peel the potatoes for the soup. He would’ve preferred mashed potatoes himself, but he knew Bård hated it, so soup it was. When he got everything ready and boiling in the kettle, he came back out to find Bård swinging in the swing, his flaxen hair flying in the wind. He swung ever higher, laughing loudly for sheer happiness. Bård’s joy made Vegard glad too. He just stood by the door, leaning on the door jamb for a good long while, watching his brother move back and forth. He felt perfectly contented, until he saw a dove flying above them, heading to Sofia’s. It reminded him of the stark realities of his life and his face darkened. It was as if Bård read his mind: the very moment he started feeling unhappy, the smaller boy slowed down the swing and jumped off. He ran to Vegard and wrapped his skinny arms around him, pressing his head on his brother’s chest.

“What’s wrong?” he asked in a muffled voice.

“Nothing, everything is fine,” he lied, but felt a stab of guilt in his heart.

He hated lying to his brother. _I’ll tell him tonight,_ he promised to himself. 

The boys gorged down the soup and stuffed themselves even fuller with the cherries. They could hardly get up from their chairs, and Vegard helped Bård to bed.

“You wait here and I’ll get the horses in for the night, ok?”

“Yeah,” Bård said and yawned.

Vegard quickly did the evening chores and climbed in the bed that wasn’t empty for the first time.

“Vegard,” Bård said in a sleepy voice. “Will you tell me what’s wrong?”

Vegard sighed. “Ok.”

He told Bård about the situation in Thorn Rose Valley, only glossing over the grizzliest details. When he finally finished, Bård’s breathing was even and deep, he had fallen asleep. Vegard turned to face him and draped his arm protectively over his brother. _Don’t worry, Bård, I won’t let anything bad happen to you, ever again,_ he swore.


	6. For the good of the many

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An unknown visitor comes by in the middle of the night and Vegard needs to leave the valley.

Bård was up with the sun and the rooster. Vegard was a bit slower at waking: the rampant emotions of the previous afternoon and night had taken their toll.

“Come on, sleepyhead, I wanna meet Sofia, you promised we’d go there today!”

Vegard groaned and pulled the blankets over his head, but Bård swiped them aside, straddling Vegard’s chest. He brought his beaming face closer to Vegard’s, close enough that the older boy could see the numerous freckles that occupied Bård’s cheeks and the bridge of his nose. Vegard couldn’t help but smile when he saw the joy in the bright blue eyes of his brother. He surprised Bård by tackling him off to the other side of the bed and tickling him until he was bright red from laughing too hard.

“This is what you get for making me get out of bed so early,” Vegard growled at Bård, who was still breathless from giggling.

“Ooh, you’re so terrifying,” Bård said, faking a scared look. “Is starving me a part of the punishment?”

A guilty look flashed on Vegard’s face and Bård was quick to assure him he was merely joking, but his rumbling stomach betrayed the fact that he really was hungry. 

“Ok, you go brush your teeth and wash your face, then you can go out and see if you can find us any fresh eggs! I’ll get some bread and butter ready. Toast and scrambled eggs sound good to you?”

“Yeah!” Bård said and jumped off the bed, eager to start the new day.

Vegard looked at him and marvelled at the difference half a day and one night in Nangijala had made in Bård. His cheeks were ruddy and his whole skin appeared to glow with health: he looked completely different from the fragile, almost translucent child he had seen in the hospital. Even his hair seemed more vivacious, it curled up at the end all wantonly, instead of laying flat against his head, like it had before. Vegard guessed it would be as curly as his own before long. 

Bård rushed through the washing rituals and was out the door before Vegard was even fully dressed. Vegard hummed happily as he prepared the stove and the heavy skillet. It still took some time to get the fire started and for the stove to warm up, but when he didn’t hear Bård coming back in, he got worried and went to look for him outside. The sight that met him there had him doubled over with laughter. Bård was standing flat against the stable wall and was surrounded by angry-looking chickens. Every time he tried to make a move to leave, the chickens would open their wings and make aggressive clucking noises at him, which made him freeze to his tracks. It took a while for Vegard to calm down and even afterward he’d snort a bit.

“What on earth are you doing? You were only supposed to get some eggs, nothing more. Where are they?” Vegard asked.

“You never told me the chickens would get so upset!”

Vegard chuckled as he walked toward his brother and shooed the birds away. Together they gathered some eggs and Bård clearly felt more confident with his brother by his side because he rummaged around the hay where the birds had hidden their potential offspring, never minding the chickens that flocked around them.

The boys walked in with their loot and Vegard made them lovely omelettes for breakfast.

“The food here is so good!” Bård exclaimed.

“It might have something to do with the fact you spend so much time outside here,” Vegard smiled.

After the breakfast the boys walked over to Sofia’s. She was already in the yard taking care of her doves when they appeared.

“So this is the little brother Vegard has told so much about!” Sofia exclaimed as she moved closer and held Bård by the shoulders, leaning in to look. 

Bård gave her a small smile, a bit unsure how to react to the stranger who clearly knew a lot more about him than he of her. 

“It’s an honor to be finally able to meet you,” she continued.

“Likewise,” Bård said, a turn of phrase he’d heard the adults use.

Sofia chuckled and ruffled Bård’s blonde hair.

“He’s just as you described him to be,” Sofia told Vegard. “Sweet as molasses and cute as a button.”

Bård’s cheeks flushed from the praise. He was unaccustomed to such things, back in Bergen people mostly just pitied him, they did not compliment him. Vegard wrapped his arm around Bård’s shoulders, his whole being radiating pride for his baby brother.

“Would you like to have some breakfast? I just cooked porridge,” Sofia asked.

Vegard was just about to say no, because they had stuffed themselves full with the omelette and bread, but to his great surprise Bård piped out: “Yes please, I’m starving!”

Vegard turned to look at his younger sibling with raised eyebrows, but he had already moved towards Sofia’s front door, seemingly ready to get his second breakfast of the day.

 _Oh my god Bård, you’re turning into a Hobbitt, aren’t you?_ Vegard thought, but in truth he was happy Bård wanted to eat, goodness knows they’d never had quite enough at home and Bård had been too ill to have much appetite anyway.

Vegard followed Bård in and smiled as he watched him sit by Sofia’s kitchen table, which was covered in a red and white checker cloth and had a vase full of fresh flowers on it, the last ones of the season. Sofia put a steaming bowl of porridge before Bård and he added a heaping spoonful of butter and a liberal dash of honey on top. He quickly finished the food and in the end let out a soft burp. He apologized, but Sofia only laughed and said it was a sign of a happy tummy.

“How would you boys feel if I took you to town, so Bård could meet everybody?” Sofia asked.

Vegard remembered his own uncomfortable first visit and was a bit hesitant, but Bård seemed eager, so he nodded.

“Sure, that sounds like a good idea, Sofia,” he said.

Together they walked the relatively short distance to town and Bård looked around wide-eyed. Everything was so small, there were no tall buildings in sight, except for the belfry, of course. Almost by accident Bård slid his smaller hand in Vegard’s and excitedly squeezed it when he noticed something interesting he wanted to point out to his older brother. It felt to Vegard that every squeeze from the boy’s hand also could be felt around his heart, a pain that was so welcome and happy. He had missed his brother a lot more than he could even begin to describe. He wiped his eyes quickly with the back of his hand to hide the moistness gathered in their corners.

“You ok?” Bård asked.

 _There’s nothing that escapes him_ , Vegard mused.

“Nothing, I think a bug flew in my eye,” Vegard lied.

Bård looked like he wanted to ask him more, but to Vegard’s relief they arrived at the Golden Rooster. Just like last time, Sofia ushered the boys in ahead of her, but this time there were two of them and neither showed any apprehension because they could rely on each other. They faced the curious people together and this time they were all familiar to Vegard, if not to Bård. He stepped forward and introduced him proudly. People raised their cups and tankards in greeting. When the boys sat down, Vegard told Bård little anecdotes about each of the people to help better remember them.

“Look at that man there, his name is Anders and every morning when he goes outside to fetch eggs, he slips behind the henhouse to have a smoke and he thinks his wife doesn’t know, but she does. And that woman over there, Lydia? She likes to smell the products she is going to buy from the market stall before making a decision, I’m not even sure she notices it herself.”

Bård was excited to hear all the small details about the people and he pointed to a tall, gangly teenager that was helping Jossi, the innkeeper.

“What about him? Tell me about him!”

Vegard knitted his brows together.

“Actually, there’s nothing I can tell, I have no idea who he is. I think we need to ask Sofia,” he said turning toward the woman.

She nodded and said: “He is Jossi’s nephew, from Thorn Rose Valley, he’s come here to live with his uncle, it’s more --- peaceful here.”

Bård nodded knowingly.

“Yeah, I know about their troubles,” he said in a way that would’ve made Vegard grin if it hadn’t been so serious.

Sofia turned to look at Vegard sharply.

“You told him?” she said accusingly.

“Of course I did. He’s my brother and I laid down my life for him. If I cannot trust him, there’s no one I ever can.”

Sofia looked displeased but gave a small, almost imperceptible nod, while pressing her lips into a thin line, thus indicating to Vegard that the matter wasn’t yet finished.

After a couple of hours of socializing, as the brothers walked home, Vegard told Bård about his spy-excercises and disguised it all in a funny story that made the boy giggle. Sofia had left the inn just behind the brothers and before they’d walked past her house, she called after them.

“Boys, would you mind stopping for a minute, I could use a hand with the cherry picking!”

Bård looked happy, but Vegard’s face was clouded with concern. He wasn’t so sure the plead for help was quite what she actually meant.

“Sure,” he agreed. “We’d be happy to assist you.”

They stopped to wait for Sofia, who promptly took Bård to the back of the garden with a pail for the cherries. When she saw he was busy, she came back to Vegard.

“Why on earth would you tell your ten-year-old brother about things you’re not supposed to say aloud at all?”

“First of all, I never promised I wouldn’t talk to my brother about it, and the fact of the matter is I’ve never kept any secrets from him and I have no intention to start doing so now. If you really need me as much as you claim you do, don’t ever question me or my brother’s loyalty ever again!”

Vegard’s voice rose so loud that Bård lifted his head from the cherries, concerned. Vegard gestured that he was alright. Sofia had a meek look on her face and she apologized reluctantly to Vegard, who gracefully accepted, not really believing her sincerity.

After Bård was done, he ambled toward Vegard, who showed him Sofia’s birds. He immediately recognized Bianca.

“Oh look, there’s you! I mean the bird that came to my window and had your voice,” he corrected himself blushing. ”Tell me how you did it!”

Vegard described the bizarre feeling of seeing and hearing double and his voice softened in remembrance of flying on her wings. Bård turned to Sofia and spontaneously hugged her.

“Thank you so much, Sofia! You have no idea how wonderful it was to hear Vegard’s voice again!”

She hugged Bård back.

“They don’t call me the queen of doves for nothing, you know,” she smiled at Bård.

“Come on, we need to get back home now,” Vegard said.

Bård pushed his lower lip out like a petulant toddler.

“Really?”

“Yes, move it!” he said, but softened his words with a smile.

“Okay…” Bård said with a whiny voice, but was soon skipping next to Vegard.

The boys did all the chores and after a hearty meal both were yawning widely.

“What do you say if we turned in early tonight?” Vegard asked.

“I’m not tired,” Bård claimed but his face was almost split in two with the width of his yawn.

Vegard chuckled and patted the mattress next to him. Bård obediently sat down next to his brother and let him help him to his jammies. Almost as soon as they slid under the covers, Vegard was snoring softly. _Wow,_ Bård thought, _he must really be tired, he never falls asleep this quickly._ For once Bård tossed and turned, he was usually the one that went lights out as soon as he hit the hay. When he finally felt he was drifting off for now, he heard a sound from the yard. Bård quickly glanced at Vegard, but he was in deep sleep. He got off the bed carefully so that he wouldn’t wake his brother and snuck out.

Bård saw a thin sliver of light coming from the chicken coop and as he watched, a dark figure emerged and moved on to the stable. Bård felt scared, the hairs at the back of his neck were standing up and he had goosebumps that had absolutely nothing to do with the cool weather. He shivered involuntarily and pulled back further into the shadows. The figure rummaged around in the stable and when he came out, he walked toward the house. Then Bård gathered his courage and stepped out of the shadows.

“Who are you and what do you want?” he asked in a voice that was supposed to be assertive, but came out a pitiful squeak.

The figure got startled, and jumped up in the air, covering the light completely. Then he turned around and ran away.

“Yeah, you’d better run!” Bård yelled after him and shook his fist in the air.

The yelling must’ve woken up Vegard, because he soon came to the door, wiping his eyes, his black curls all dishevelled. 

“What on earth is this commotion? You should be in bed, it’s the middle of the night!”

Bård ran to him and wrapped his arms around him.

“I was so scared, there was somebody in the yard and he went in the henhouse and into the stable,” Bård said, his voice muffled against Vegard’s chest.

Vegard paled. He took a hold of Bård’s shoulders and held him at arm’s length, looking intensely in his eyes.

“You said there was a man going through our things?” His voice was tight with worry. “Tell me about it, in as much detail as you can.”

“I heard a noise, so I snuck outside. There was a large dark figure in the yard and he was holding a lantern in his hand. It wasn’t a regular one though, it only let out a thin sliver of light.”

“Tell me more about the figure,” Vegard urged.

“There isn’t much more I can tell you. He was tall, almost as tall as the doorframe and he wasn’t thin. Why are you so worried about it anyway? We don’t have anything of any value here, except for the horses and he didn’t try to steal them.”

“Remember when I told you about the resistance? I’ve been delivering messages for them and I’m positive that’s what he was looking for!”

“So I might’ve seen the traitor then,” Bård stated.

“Yeah. You did so good when you chased him away. I’m proud of you, Bård,” Vegard said as he pulled him closer again, squeezing hard at the thought that the traitor might’ve hurt Bård instead of just running away.

“I think I might need to go away for a little while, on resistance business,” Vegard sighed.

Bård grabbed a tighter hold on his brother.

“But I don’t want you to go,” he sniffed.

“Believe me, I wouldn’t if it wasn’t absolutely necessary. But I need to warn the resistance members in Thorn Rose Valley about the fact that the traitor is getting more aggressive. Lives might be at stake.”

Bård sighed.

“I know you have to, but I still don’t like it one bit!”

“I’m sorry, pipsqueak. I wish I could stay too! Would you like to go to live with Sofia while I’m gone?” 

“No way! I don’t wanna leave home, ok?”

“Fine, I’ll just ask Sofia to feed you.”

“Yeah, I’d like that. Please come back home soon,” Bård said and squeezed Vegard even tighter.

“Let’s get back to bed, it’s too early for me to leave, or too late, however you wanna look at it. I’ll leave as the first thing in the morning.”

Vegard picked Bård up, even when he was getting a bit too big to be lugged around, thanks to his new appetite. He carried him to bed and Bård spooned against his back to keep as close as he could. He missed Vegard already.

All too soon the sun rose and the rooster crowed. Bård was reluctant to leave the comforting closeness of his brother and grudgingly let him go as he got up from bed. The mood was somber when the boys had breakfast, Bård was pushing the food around on his plate and Vegard didn’t seem to have much appetite either. Finally he got up from the table and cleared the dishes, washing them without a word. Then Vegard walked to the stable to brush Grim, Bård a silent shadow at his side. He saddled Grim and tightened a small bundle of food wrapped in a blanket behind the seat. The brothers hugged once more, Vegard rode away and didn’t turn to look back. He knew he couldn’t leave if he saw Bård’s forlorn figure standing alone at the gate. Vegard rode towards Sofia’s, to tell her about the plan and to get on his way. Sofia agreed that the warning had to be delivered in two separate ways just in case, both with Vegard and her doves. 

It was a lovely, bright morning. It wasn’t yet late enough in the year to be one of those translucent days that sometimes came just before the weather got really cold, but nice nevertheless. Still, the weather didn’t really register in Vegard’s mind, he was too pre-occupied with his feelings. He took off at a gallop and had soon left the village behind him but his heart was heavy and not even the joy of riding fast could make it lighter. He felt the burden of responsibility weighing him down, not only for the resistance, but over Bård as well. He tried telling himself nobody had forced him to do it and that it would be alright, but his thoughts kept circling around the idea of people dying, over Bård dying all over again and his face clouded with worry.

Vegard rode for a few hours without even noticing the passage of time and stopped for lunch only when his hunger got almost painful. He got to the neighboring valley without much trouble: he passed a few patrols but wasn’t stopped by any, probably because he didn’t look scared or hesitant when he went past the soldiers. Truth to be told, he most likely didn’t even see the patrolling men. He arrived at Matthias’ house and hurried in to deliver his dire news. Matthias listened gravely and after Vegard was finished, he hastened off to pass on the word. 

When Matthias left, Vegard rested on a bench that was conveniently placed against the wall, and nodded off in the warmth of the late autumn sun. Matthias woke him after he returned and told him that he needed to go to the mountains to gather information about troop movements, as he was here already. Vegard nodded and gratefully took the meagre supplies Matthias could offer him, getting back on the horse, who had also had had a good rest and some fresh grass in his belly. 

“Be careful, Vegard!”

“I will,” he promised and rode away toward the mountains.

He saw a patrol in the distance, they were escorting a prisoner and shoving him forward every time he faltered. He rode closer and then stopped to hide Grim. It was getting dark already and he had to be careful so he wouldn’t trip on the uneven ground. He snuck closer as quick as he could. His heart was hammering in his chest like Grim’s hooves had when they galloped along the path earlier.

Vegard’s foot slipped and a rock started rolling down the path, gathering other rocks with it until there was a mini landslide happening behind him. He froze in his tracks and quickly hid behind a large boulder. From his hiding place he saw the patrol stop and turn around to look behind them, seeing nothing. After they turned back, Vegard let out a long sigh of breath he had no idea he had even been holding. 

Vegard kept a little more distance between him and the patrol, but he was still close enough to see the prisoner’s face when the light hit him. It was Orvar, the leader of the rebellion. With shaking legs Vegard followed still and when they came to a huge waterfall, he desperately looked around for another way to get across the river than the bridge the patrol used, but there was none. Suddenly Vegard heard a roar, so loud it reverberated through the bedrock and made his insides jiggle. And then he saw it.

A terrible creature, more horrible than anything he’d ever seen in his life, even in his nightmares. Katla the dragon.

It was huge and black, it had gigantic eyes that blazed with hatred and it breathed fire. That time there was nothing he could do to keep back his scream, which was drowned by the noise of the water rushing down and the creature itself. Vegard wailed in pure terror and panic, so hard his throat got raw and he had to stop to cough. His knees gave out and he sat behind a boulder that sheltered him from the sight, hugging his legs and sobbing harder than he could remember doing since he had heard Bård was dying. 


	7. The traitor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bård wakes in the middle of the night when he hears Vegard scream, even when he's not even home...

Bård woke up sweating and shaking. He still heard Vegard’s anguished screams in his head. _Something is seriously wrong with him,_ Bård thought. _I’ll have to go and help him!_ He got up from the bed; it was the middle of the night, dark and cold because the fire had burned down. Bård peeled off the sweaty clothes and got dressed, scrambled together any supplies he could possibly find and then went to the stable to saddle Fjalar. The horse made soft sounds when he walked in and batted his long eyelashes slowly because Bård had woken him up.

He murmured softly to the horse: “It’s all ok, nothing’s wrong, we’re just going for a little ride.”

He managed to tighten up the saddle belt, he had learned from Vegard’s experience. 

Bård climbed on the saddle and said: “Let’s get going! We need to find Vegard.”

Bård knew that if he waited until morning, Sofia would stop him from leaving altogether, so he really didn’t have a choice.

“Oh, I almost forgot,” he said and slid back down.

He ran back in and scribbled a quick note for Sofia: “Went to save V. Please feed the chickens.” He read it over, tacked it to the front door and left. When he rode past Sofia’s, he went extra quietly, but afterwards he urged Fjalar to run as fast as he dared in the darkness that was lit only by the moon.

Bård was feeling cold and scared, he hardly had a notion of where he was going. But he knew he had to go on because Vegard needed him. The path Bård had chosen took him to the mountains: it was stony and there was a real chance that if Fjalar stepped off the beaten path by accident they’d both fall to their deaths. 

Then he heard the wolves. Their howls sent chills up Bård’s spine and he didn’t need to hurry Fjalar up anymore, he was all too willing to leave the mountain behind him. The howls got louder and as the canids got closer, they started yipping excitedly.

“Hurry up, Fjalar, please,” Bård pleaded the horse, whose eyes were already flashing panicky white.

Bård turned to look back and saw a large grey creature almost nipping at the backs of the horse’s legs. A desperate sob racked Bård’s body and he leaned closer to Fjalar’s neck to make him go faster. They managed to escape from the creature, but suddenly there was someone there, standing in the middle of the path. Fjalar almost reared up in fright but the man took a solid hold of his reins and held him in check. 

“Get down from the saddle,” he growled in a commanding tone and almost on its own, Bård’s body had already slid down to the ground before even realising what he was actually doing.

The man shoved the reins in Bård’s hand, took out the bow and nocked an arrow in a singular motion and shot the pack leader in the eye, felling him instantly. The rest of the pack turned tail and ran off on their silent paws. Then the man turned toward Bård and he finally saw who it was. Hubert the Hunter. He unceremoniously placed Bård back on the saddle and looked at him grimly.

“What the hell are you doing here on your own in the middle of the night? And where’s your brother?” he asked looking around.

“Vegard’s right there, ahead of me,” Bård lied.

Hubert knitted his brows together. Clearly he didn’t buy what Bård was selling.

“Oh yeah?” he asked. “Let’s go and see him together then,” he said and was about to grab Fjalar’s reins again, when Bård smashed his heels to the horse’s sides and yelled: “Run Fjalar!”

Hubert had to jump aside so he wouldn’t be trodden over and Bård could hear him cursing long after he was nowhere in sight. Bård carefully slowed down the horse and patted his neck. 

“Well done, Fjalar!” he thanked.

Fjalar followed along the treacherous path and every time there was a sound other than his own or Fjalar’s, Bård twitched nervously. He didn’t want any other interruptions, he just fervently wished to find his brother. When he saw a glow of fire gleaming on the side of the mountain, he dismounted and tied Fjalar down on a bush beside the path. He snuck closer to the light and saw a campfire in front of a cave but no people around it. He could hear faint scuffing sounds and nickers inside and decided to take a peek. He softly padded to the entrance and saw it filled with white horses that were jostling around. The noise they made almost masked the sounds of the soldiers returning. Bård’s heart jumped to his throat and in a panic he hid inside.

“So when is he coming, exactly?” asked one of the soldiers.

“He should be here any second, he said he’d come right after moonrise.”

 _Who are they talking about?_ Bård wondered. _Could it be the traitor?_

His question was soon answered. A burly, rotund man stumbled into the sphere of light, walked there by a pair of soldiers. They pushed him closer and one of them cackled: “Look who we found skulking around!”

Bård had to press a hand to his mouth to suppress a yell. _Oh no! They’ve caught Jossi!_

“Well there you are, we’ve been expecting you.”

 _Wait, what?_ Bård thought.

“You were asked to come here to show your loyalty to Tengil.”

“I am loyal,” Jossi whined.

“Now you have a chance to prove how far you’re willing to go to serve your master. Take his shirt off!” the soldier ordered.

“Nooo!” Jossi whimpered, but in vain

.

The leader of the soldiers took a stick out of the fire, but when he lifted it up, Bård could see the other end glow red. The soldier pressed the end of the stick on Jossi’s chest and he screamed at the top of his voice.

“Hold him still, will you? We don’t want to ruin the brand now, do we?”

When the soldier pulled the brand off Jossi’s chest, there was a whiff of smoke rising from his skin and the air was filled with the smell of burning meat and hair. The brand left an angry red mark in the middle of Jossi’s chest: it had the insignia of Tengil’s army on it.

“There you go! Now everyone will always recognize you as Tengil’s property,” the soldier with the branding iron laughed.

“Escort him away,” he ordered.

Bård’s eyes had watered out of pity and horror and he unwittingly let out a high-pitched whimper. The soldiers had keen ears and immediately ran to check out the noise. One of them soon emerged from the cave, holding the struggling Bård by the scruff of his neck.

“Looky here,” the leader said. “I believe we have ourselves a genuine little spy!”

“No, I haven’t been spying on anybody!” Bård squeaked, scared almost out of his wits.

“What are you doing here then?”

“I was on my way to ---take the horse to my grandpa, who lives in Thorn Rose Valley, when I got cold and saw the fire and thought I could warm up a bit before I continued on,” Bård invented.

“So, what’s his name then, this “grandpa” of yours?” the soldier asked.

“I dunno, I’ve always just called him grandpa,” Bård said, almost crying at this point.

“Ok, you’re gonna take us to your grandpa right now or we’ll take you to the mines, I think you’re just the perfect size,” the soldier said. “Where’s the horse you talked about?”

“Down there,” Bård said, pointing along the path.

They walked ahead together to find Fjalar and Bård climbed on the saddle, shivering and sobbing quietly. _What am I going to do?”_

The morning had barely broken when they arrived in the town. One of the soldiers asked Bård to show them where his grandpa lived.

“A bit further on,” he said in a quaky voice. 

And it was what he kept saying, until they had reached the very last house. Big tears were running down Bård’s face and in his desperation he almost missed seeing the kind-looking grandfatherly figure that came out of the door into the yard. 

“There he is!” Bård yelled and slid down from the saddle. He ran to the old man, hugged him and quickly whispered: “Please pretend you’re my grandpa or they’ll take me to the mines!”

“There you are my boy,” the old man said aloud, to Bård’s immense relief. “I was getting worried over you already. This kid, always wandering off, one of these days he’ll get himself in a real pickle.”

“So he’s your grandson?”

“Unfortunately yes,” he chuckled.

“You need to give him a good hiding, running off like that!”

“Indeed,” he nodded.

“Here’s your horse and the next time I see the boy over in the mountains, I’ll take him to the mines personally. No question about it!”

The old man kept nodding obediently and walked Fjalar to the stable, holding Bård protectively under his arm all the while. As soon as the soldiers were gone, the man held out his hand to Bård.

“Hello, I’m Matthias.”

“Hello, I’m Bård.”

“Of course you are. Vegard has told me so much about you!”

“Vegard?” Bård squeaked. “You know my brother?” he asked in an incredulous voice.

“Know him? More than that, I can assure you. Come inside and let me show.”

Bård followed Matthias into the kitchen. Then he drew in the curtains and said: “Here!”

“Where?” Bård asked, confused.

“Just hold your horses, boy,” Matthias chuckled and pushed a cupboard aside.

There was a dark space behind it and at first Bård didn’t see anything. But then he started making out a dark figure that was lying on the floor, covered by a blanket.

“Vegard!” Bård screamed, ran in and tackled his brother’s prone body, wrapping himself all around him.

“Bård?” Vegard asked, his vision still blurry from the sleep. “What on earth are you doing here, of all places? You’re supposed to be at home, safe in Cherry Valley.”

“I’m sorry Vegard, but I had to come. I woke up in the middle of the night when I heard you screaming. I knew you were in some terrible danger and I had to come to your rescue,” Bård said, crying all over again, only this time for relief.

Vegard sat up and held Bård in his arms, stroking his hair and crying as well. 

“Oh my sweet, beautiful, brave little brother. I am so proud of you and so happy you are here with me,” Vegard said.

“How about we sleep a bit more,” Vegard suggested. “It’s still really early and I bet you’ve had a long night,” he added to Bård.

“Yeah, I’ll tell you all about it when we wake up,” Bård said yawning wide.

Vegard lay back on the ground and pulled Bård down with him, holding him tight under his arm. 

“It’s gonna be ok, now that we’re together again,” he murmured into Bård’s ear.


	8. Strings for a bow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tengil comes for a visit

Bård woke up feeling comfortable and secure, wrapped in his brother’s arms. He squirmed around to face him, pressed his forehead against Vegard’s and whispered: “Why did you yell like that?”

Vegard blinked sleepily.

“I saw something utterly terrifying,” he said in a voice still hoarse from all the screaming he had done.

Bård’s eyes grew bigger.

“What was it?” he asked, equally fascinated and afraid.

“I saw Katla, the dragon,” Vegard said, his voice cracking. “They feed people to him…” he whispered quakingly. 

Bård drew in a shocked breath.

Matthias had heard them talking and pushed the cupboard aside. He gazed in at the two glum young faces and suggested: “How about some breakfast, boys? I can get an omelette cooking in no time!”

A little smile lifted the corners of Bård’s mouth.

“That sounds perfect, Matthias,” he said.

After getting some food in them, the world seemed like a better place, up until Vegard sighed and pushed his empty plate away.

“At least we get to eat,” he said sadly.

“What do you mean?”Bård asked.

“Tengil’s men have been raiding the towns and stealing food from the people. They don’t actually see anything wrong with it, they consider it their right to make people weak, hungry and ill. But what they don’t get is that it also makes people desperate and when cornered like that they can go to extreme measures to get what they and their loved ones need,” Vegard said bitterly.

“Oh no, that’s terrible, is there anything we can do to help?”

“Yeah,” Matthias and I have been smuggling food here from Cherry Valley and other places, but it isn’t enough.”

Suddenly there was a series of loud bangs and thumps from outside.

“What’s that?” asked Bård, alarmed.

“Tengil’s men have realised that someone’s been helping the townspeople and they’re erecting a wall to control all the comings and goings. You cannot get in or out without a password,” Matthias said.

“That’s so wrong! How can the people get food then?” Bård asked.

“We’ve dug a tunnel to cross the wall from underneath,” Matthias said. “We started a while back, to avoid too much attention, but it was a lucky strike we had it ready when they put up the wall,” he continued. “You need to get back into hiding now, Vegard, Bård and I will go out to see how everybody’s doing,” he continued and pointed to the hidey-hole.

“Yeah,” Vegard sighed. “At least I have a book to keep me company,” he said as he grabbed a thick volume from the table and shuffled off.

Bård and Matthias walked to the town square where a lot of people had already gathered. A commanding-looking soldier was standing on a pedestal and he was holding a paper with a hand-drawn picture of Vegard on it.

He lifted it up and called in a loud voice: “This boy is a fugitive from the law of Tengil. We have a reason to believe he is here somewhere. If you give him up, you and your family will be provided for by Tengil’s grace. But if you are caught harbouring this boy, you and all of your kin will be fed to Katla, one by one.”

Bård paled and he discreetly looked around, scared that someone would point at Matthias and call him out for hiding his brother, but he needn’t have worried, people just looked down with sour looks on their faces.

A little girl cried and said: “Mommy, I’m hungry!”

“I know baby, let’s go home and see what I can find,” the mother said in a soothing tone.

Matthias took Bård back to his house and asked: “Can you play in the garden while I go and try to find that little girl some food? She hasn’t eaten properly all week.”

“Sure!” Bård answered, “I’ll be ok right here.”

Matthias nodded and went inside, since the other end of the tunnel was in his cellar. Bård innocently played in the garden, closing in on the nearby gate and the soldiers that were guarding it. He eavesdropped for quite a while before they even noticed him. When they did, they just shooed him away without a single thought on what he might’ve heard. 

Bård walked into the town afterwards and looked around curiously, since he hadn’t had the chance to do it properly after he had arrived. It was nearing lunchtime and Bård’s stomach growled. He was going back to Matthias’ when a couple of soldiers that had apprehended him on the previous evening cornered him.

“Look who’s here! Wandering off again, are we?” one of them laughed.

“Let’s go see your grandpa, I think you’re in need of a good caning…”

Bård walked mutely between the two large men who bantered amusedly about the benefits of corporal punishment on children. He was worried because he knew Matthias wasn’t actually home, but out getting food.

“Go get him,” the men said.

Bård headed straight for the stable and looked around as long as he dared. Then he looked into the henhouse; he was desperately trying to buy time. When he peeked into the well, one of the men grabbed him by the scruff of his neck.

“Get him, NOW!” he yelled, his reddening face almost pressed to Bård’s.

Bård dashed inside, tears running down his cheeks. He was so scared the men would come in and find Vegard. Suddenly Matthias emerged from the basement and after seeing the soldiers in the yard, he ruffled his hair to make it look like he had just woken up. To strengthen the idea, he yawned widely as he stepped outside, followed by the trembling Bård.

“Listen grandpa, are you able to keep the kid in check or do we need to take him with us?” one of the men growled.

“I’m good, I was just taking a nap and the brat must’ve run away during that. He’s a bit feebleminded, so it’s not so easy for him to follow instructions.”

“You’d better beat some sense into him or else…”

“I will, believe me,” he said and took Bård by his ear, lifting his hand so he had to stand on tiptoes. It looked painful, but he made sure he didn’t really hurt Bård. Nevertheless it made the soldiers happy and they left, chuckling at poor Bård. Matthias stopped the strict act as soon as he dared and hugged the sobbing Bård.

“Are you ok, boy?” he asked in a worried voice.

“I am, but I was so afraid they’d find Vegard by accident!”

“There’s nothing to worry about, they’ll never find him, I’ve made sure of that.”

Bård’s stomach growled again.

“I believe we need to get some food into you,” Matthias said.

“I don’t think I could eat anything, knowing there are kids that haven’t eaten properly in ages. Can we make sure they get fed first?” Bård asked, feeling painfully hungry, but determined to get the task done.

“Yes, of course, let’s get the food to the people.”

They gathered up everything Matthias had managed to find and passed the wares onto the townspeople, right under the noses of the soldiers. Only when they had nothing else to give, they headed back to Matthias’ and he cooked for the three of them. Vegard was very happy to be let out and fed.

***

Early on the next morning, the whole place woke up to the sound of trumpets. Tengil’s men were playing fanfares and the official crier announced that Tengil himself would be arriving there later that day. The people would have the honor of providing good edible goods to their wonderful leader.

All over town people were groaning as the soldiers banged on their doors demanding donations. They emptied their cupboards into the sacks they held open, because getting caught hiding food would mean death. Still there was one man who decided to risk it, his wife was heavily pregnant and the man knew his growing child needed enough nourishment to come out healthy. So he chose to hide away a loaf of stale bread. The only mistake he made was that he had hidden it poorly and the soldiers managed to find it with the cursory inspection they held. They carried away the man and the bread: it took four of them to manage it because he kept struggling free and returning to his wife. In the end they just clunked him on the head and dragged away his unconscious body. His wife fell on her knees, sobbing uncontrollably and hugging her arms around her big belly.

“Nothing to see here!” the soldiers yelled. “Unless you wanna join him, that is,” they mocked and threw the loaf of bread to the pigsty.

The soldiers commandeered the biggest house there was, the town hall, and made the women to get it perfect for Tengil and his closest men. They set the tables with their best china and food they could ill afford to give away.

Tengil rode into town around noon, surrounded by fierce-looking soldiers. He was a middle-aged man with a receding hairline and a round tummy, he had a seemingly permanent moue on his face and he wore clothes made of thick, expensive fabrics. He rose onto the pedestal and gave a long speech about how benevolent he was.

Bård was so shocked over the things that happened, he only caught a part of Tengil’s speech.

“And I make sure my loyal soldiers get all the food they want, like they do today. I make sure no wild animals threaten the villages I govern, the walls that are erected are for the good of the people. Today is a joyous day for all of us, we get to pluck out a bad apple from amongst you“

Then the man who had hidden the bread was brought before him.

“You are accused of stealing bread from me and my men, how do you plead?”

“I haven’t stolen anything, it was you who stole from us,” said the man bravely, straining to get free from the shackles they had put him in.

“So you admit to thievery. You’d deserve to be thrown to the dragon, but since I’m feeling especially nice today, I’ll just make an example out of you and chop off your head, for the sake of your pregnant wife.”

“Nooo!” she wailed before Matthias slapped his hand on her mouth to keep her quiet and alive.

“Go ahead then,” the man said, holding his head high.

“Kneel before your master, dog!” one of the soldiers growled at him, but he stood until they kicked him in the knee, which gave out a sickening crunch when he fell.

A soldier held his head facing down. Tengil lifted his sword and the midday sun gleamed on its bright surface as it fell. It seemed to take forever as it sailed lower through the air to strike the man’s neck and slice his head cleanly off. A collective gasp went through the onlookers, but nobody turned their eyes away. They wanted to remember the moment when the bright red arterial spray painted Tengils pants as the man’s heart pumped its last. Then the time sped up again and Bård watched as Tengil wiped the blade of his sword on the dead man’s shirt.

He held up the severed head and said loudly: “His head will be mounted on a pike to remind you what happens if you steal from me or if you harbour a fugitive.”

The townsfolk stared at the headless torso, a mute rage blazing in their gazes. The man’s widow shook with inaudible sobs and a young man wearing a hood held her hand. Bård’s eyes did a double take at the hooded figure: to his shock he realised it was Vegard. _Oh no, you have to leave, you can’t be here right now_ , Bård tried to tell his brother through his intense stare, but Vegard either didn’t notice or didn’t care, he just held his ground next to the devastated woman. 

Tengil and his men made a number of going to the town hall and left all the windows and doors ajar so people could hear them gorging down the last of their food and wine while they and their children cried with hunger.

As soon as Bård had a chance, he ran to Vegard and hissed: “What are you doing here, don’t you understand that they will kill you the moment they set eyes on you?”

“They won’t see me, they’d never look for me in plain sight.”

Bård groaned in frustration.

“Please go back to Matthias’, I don’t know what I’d do if they killed you,” he pleaded.

Vegard looked Bård solemnly in the eye.

“The people need to see me. They know the soldiers are looking for me and the fact that I’m here, out in the open, gives them hope and belief in the resistance. This way they’ll know that we won’t give in, that the fight goes on.”

As he spoke, he gently helped the widow to sit on the steps of a house. She sat down and pulled a pair of shears from the folds of her dress. She took out a clump of her waist-length blonde hair and cut it at the root.

“No, what are you doing?” asked Bård, shocked, sure she’d lost her wits in her grief.

She lifted her tear-filled eyes to Bård and with a fierce smile said: “I’m making strings for bows from my hair. I pray that each time an arrow is nocked, one of Tengil’s men dies.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last scene is one of my favorite ones from the original, I hope I managed to convey the right feeling in it to you all...


	9. Time to leave

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vegard tries to think of a way to escape from The Thorn Rose Valley

The next morning Bård woke up to a commotion from the neighboring house. Soon Matthias came to let Bård out from the hidey-hole, but he asked Vegard to stay there. Vegard agreed without a word because he knew what was at stake. He wanted to come out all the same, but he was well aware that he couldn’t risk getting caught, so he just grabbed a book and made himself comfortable. It was going to be a long day for him, alone in the dim, cramped room.

The noises came closer and there was sharp rapping at the front door not much later. Matthias opened it to a small group of soldiers, who pushed in, shoving Matthias aside. Like Matthias knew that Bård was about to launch into loud protests, he drew the boy in his arms and held him close. The man’s face was as calm as ever, but Bård could feel the wild galloping of his heart. _He’s just as scared for Vegard as I am_ , he thought and for some reason that helped him calm down.

The soldiers randomly opened cabinet doors and pulled things out, they even flipped Matthias’ mattress. _You will never find him, you idiots,_ Bård thought smugly but almost simultaneously his heart nearly stopped from fright because one of the soldiers was examining the cupboard that hid Vegard. Bård felt a shock go through Matthias, who dropped his hands from around Bård and grasped his chest, gasping for breath.

“Please help grandpa,” Bård squeaked.

The soldiers turned to eye the old man coldly.

“Please!” Bård repeated.

The men helped the septuagenarian outside and his skin-color rapidly changed from grey back to healthy pink.

“What was that about, old man?” asked one of the soldiers roughly.

“I’m so sorry, I got a heart murmur because I was worried something might break. The furniture inside is very old, my papa made it with his own two hands back in the day.”

The soldier waved his hand dismissively at Matthias.

“Sir, it looks like he’s got two horses in his stable,” said a slightly younger soldier to the one that had been talking to Matthias.

“Reeaally?” he said slowly, stretching out the word so it sounded like a short sentence. “And what exactly do you do with two horses, pray tell? Extra horses have been taken to Tengil ages ago.”

“One of them is mine and the other belongs to the boy,” Matthias said.

The soldier looked at Bård appraisingly.

“A kid so scrawny doesn’t need a horse of his own,” he said. “Draw up the papers,” he told the clerk they had with them. “This man volunteers his horse to the service of the glorious Tengil. We wouldn’t want any complaints for unfairness, now would we? Give him the receipt after you’ve written it.”

To confirm that he was happy to give up his horse, Matthias was made to sign the paper. The soldiers left with a promise to return for the horse and a huge mess in their wake.

Matthias and Bård drew in the curtains and Vegard was let out to help them with the calamity the soldiers had left. While they cleaned, Vegard and Matthias talked quietly.

“It’s getting too dangerous for you to be here any longer,” Matthias sighed.

“I’m aware of that, but there’s always the tunnel if I need to leave quickly.”

“What about Grim and Fjalar? We can’t let Tengil have one of them!” Bård piped in.

“Yeah, that’s a good point. They’re too big to walk through the tunnel. Besides I’m sure they’d have trouble going down the stairs to the cellar,” Vegard joked and Bård giggled at the image. “The only way to get them out is to walk them through the gates,” he continued.

“Yes, but to go that way, one needs to have the password and we don’t know what it is,” Matthias replied.

“All hail Tengil,” Bård muttered to himself.

“What did you just say?” Vegard asked.

“That’s what the soldiers say before they’re let through the gates,” Bård said.

“How do you know that?” asked Matthias.

“I was pretending to play by the gate the other day,” Bård said. “But really I was spying on them. They had no idea,” he giggled.

“You shouldn’t make a joke of such things,” Vegard said sternly. “You saw what happened to the man with the bread,” he continued. “That would’ve been you if you got caught. Please promise me you’ll never ever do a thing like that again!”

“Yes, but it paid off, didn’t it?” Bård pointed out.

“You got lucky, boy. This time. Listen to your brother and don’t do it again, ok? Leave stuff like that to the ones older than you,” Matthias said.

“But someone older would never have gotten close enough, right?”

Both Vegard and Matthias had to agree with Bård. The information acquired was priceless for the resistance.

“I know how we can pull it off,” said Vegard suddenly after they had been cleaning the house in contemplative silence for a while.

“Do tell,” Matthias urged.

“I’ll dress up as a soldier, take the receipt for the horses and just walk them out of the gates,” Vegard said, his face beaming, clearly proud of his plan.

“But you’ll be beheaded if you get caught,” said Bård, brows furrowed.

“I won’t get caught, that’s our key to success.”

“How can you be sure though?” Bård asked.

“I can’t. There are no guarantees in life, ever. You never know, you could trip in your kitchen while making breakfast, hit your head and die right there. Besides, now you know how I felt when I heard of your escapades with the guards,” he added.

Frustrated, Bård shook his head.

“Do you really think it could work?”

“I do, with all my heart. And while I go through the gate, you’ll crawl into the tunnel. I don’t want to part from you again.” Vegard said.

“I agree. Never again,” Bård nodded.

“Tomorrow?” asked Matthias.

“At first light,” Vegard confirmed.

“Time to go hide, we can’t risk you getting caught now,” Matthias said and gently pushed Vegard toward the hole behind the cupboard.

Vegard gave Bård a quick hug before he went in with a sigh. He wasn’t too fond of hiding, but understood the necessity.

Bård and Matthias gathered up all the eggs they could find and went around town, distributing them quietly to the families that had small children. The grateful smiles of the mothers and fathers receiving them warmed Bård’s heart and made him happy for the meagre meal Matthias cooked for them after they were done.

Bård wanted to spend the rest of the day with Vegard in the closet, but Matthias pointed out the soldiers might get suspicious if they didn’t see Bård playing outside. In truth Matthias felt it would be an unnecessary strain for Vegard to entertain Bård while planning for the following day, he had no idea Vegard never saw Bård as a distraction or a hindrance to anything that he did. Regardless, Bård played in the garden and did his best to forget in how much danger Vegard would be in the morning.

The brothers spent the night like the previous ones: keeping each other as close as they possibly could, but the morning came too soon and in the cold light of the late September Vegard donned on the soldier’s get-up, helped by Bård and Matthias.

When Bård looked at Vegard, in full gear, he couldn’t help a shiver running through his body. 

“You’re almost too convincing,” he said, gazing at the foreign-looking form of his brother, whose face was nearly obscured by the helmet he wore. Even Vegard’s stance was unfamiliar: his steps had a certain arrogance and self-assurance when he walked to the stable to retrieve the horses, things he normally lacked. Bård saw some rust-colored stains on the garb and didn’t even want to think how the resistance had acquired it. He watched Vegard saddle the animals and only when he saw a glimpse of his real brother in a nervous gesture, when he was patting his pocket to make sure he had the papers, he allowed himself to smile. Vegard was still himself inside the soldier’s clothes, he was happy to notice.

“I can go now, right?” Bård asked Matthias.

“Yes. Be careful and good luck!” Matthias said and hugged Bård goodbye.

“Take care of your brother.”

“Of course,” Bård said and felt like he had grown an inch, the sense of responsibility made him feel grown up. He pounded down the stairs to the cellar and crawled eagerly into the tunnel. He couldn’t wait to see Vegard on the other side.

***

Vegard was sweating profusely under his heavy clothes from sheer nerves. They had braided his hair close to his scalp to make ensure the soldiers wouldn’t be able to see his black curls from under the helmet, they’d betray him as surely as if he was holding a sign, revealing his identity among all the blonde and toffee-haired soldiers. Regardless of the precautions, he could feel a curl sneaking down his forehead. It was the stubborn one that never wanted to behave. _Please stay up, just this once,_ Vegard pleaded silently as he came to the gate. It was too late to turn back now, if he did, they’d peg him for an imposter. 

“State your business,” asked one of the soldiers at the gate with a bored voice.

So far they seemed to be convinced by Vegard.

“I’m off to deliver a horse to the troops,” said Vegard, his voice oozing confidence and contempt he lacked in reality. He would have to pull off a performance of a lifetime right there and then.

“Show me your papers,” the guard asked, apparently still fully believing the character Vegard was portraying.

“You don’t need to see my papers,” Vegard said in an angry voice. “I am your superior and I’m taking the horse to Tengil himself. Dare you hinder me, you cur? I’ll see you whipped for your insolence if I don’t get through this very instance,” Vegard bellowed, because the clothes he wore indicated a higher rank to the man standing at the gate.

“I’m sorry sir, but the rules are rules, please forgive me. And I also need the password.”

Vegard made a show of pulling out the papers, and the guard barely glanced at them, he was so scared of the possibility of getting whipped.

“All hail Tengil,” Vegard said haughtily, praying the password hadn’t changed.

“All hail our glorious leader,” said the guard as a reflexive response and opened the gate wide for Vegard to pass, bowing as he rode past.

When Vegard got far enough, he sighed deep and the unruly curl fell down his forehead from the movement. He dismounted and with a backward glance to make sure he wasn’t seen, he walked the horses to the tunnel entrance, where the carefully hidden Bård waited for him. As soon as he saw Vegard, he ran out to him and wrapped his extremities around him like a limpet.

“Vegard!” he said quietly. “You are ok! I was so worried when you didn’t come through straight away.”

“It’s all fine, we’re together now and it’ll all be ok,” Vegard said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just had to add a little Star Wars-themed gag in there...


	10. Out in the open

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The brothers head for the mountains

The boys mounted their horses and rode deeper into the forest. 

“What do we do now? Do we go back to Cherry Valley?” asked Bård with a hopeful voice.

“No,” Vegard said softly. “We have to go and see if we can set Orvar free, his presence is vital to the resistance.”

Bård stayed quiet.

“Are you ok with the plan?” Vegard asked. “I’d rather do it alone, I don’t want to lead you into any danger, but I cannot bear to part from you again either. And this is something that has to be done.”

Bård could hear the inner battle in Vegard’s voice and quickly assured him he was fine with it.

“I know we have to do it. It’ll be fine, we can manage it.”

They rode on, side by side, in the silence only broken by the soft footfalls of the horses on the yielding surface of the path. All the sounds seemed muted somehow and when a lone bird started singing, its melody pierced the quiet like a knife.

“Listen!” said Bård and stayed his horse.

The brothers listened to the beautiful song in the morning forest and it felt like a wonderful, soothing gift in the midst of all the ugliness that had happened lately. They listened until another bird joined in and soon the forest was filled with chirping. 

“We need to get going, I don’t think we have any time to waste,” Vegard sighed.

Vegard removed his helmet and Bård wanted him to toss it away altogether, but Vegard said: “No one hates it more than I do, but we might still have to pretend that I’m one of Tengil’s men.

Bård agreed and the loathed helmet travelled on with them, hanging on a piece of leather strap on Grim’s saddle.

When the boys stopped for lunch, they sat on a log, close enough that their arms rubbed against each other. Their task was dangerous and it was like they had made a wordless pact to stay as near to each other as possible. They both knew in their heart of hearts that this might be a one-way journey to one or both of them but neither wanted to voice that fear. The brothers dug out some rations from their packs and broke break together. The act of sharing food and eating together was calming to their nerves in its familiarity and their moods lifted considerably.

Afterwards they got back on the horses, riding slowly and enjoying the stillness and the company. Every once in a while Vegard would point out things to Bård, like a tree that had a bizarre form or a bird with unusual colors. Bård would describe the shapes he saw in the clouds and invent little stories about them, which made Vegard smile.

Close to the nightfall Vegard started to look for a place to sleep and he managed to find a small cavern-like hollow on the ground, not too far from the path. A huge tree had fallen almost all the way and the roots had left a sizable dent in the surface which was sheltered by the tree’s roots and a piece of turf they had torn up with them. 

“That’s a perfect place for us to spend the night, don’t you think?” Vegard asked.

“It looks so warm and snug and cozy,” Bård agreed.

Together they gathered some dry wood for the fire and Vegard lit it. The boys crawled into the little hole in the ground, the fire warming them from the front, as did the close proximity of another body in the little cave. The stars shone bright in the sky, much brighter than Bård could ever remember seeing them back in Bergen. He asked Vegard about the constellations they saw and Vegard told stories about them and soon Bård fell asleep, Vegard’s soft voice still in his ears.

***

In the afternoon the boys reached Katla’s gorge. They started talking in whispers and hid their horses behind some thick, tall bushes. As they were nearing the river, a band of soldiers rode close by, upstream from them. Judging by the snippets of conversation they heard, the soldiers felt too lazy to ride all the way up the hill to the bridge and decided to use the old crossing instead. They hadn’t taken into account that it had rained a lot lately and the current was stronger than usually. The first of the men urged his terrified horse into the water, it tried to fight the rider, but he forced it in regardless. Halfway across, a current swept the legs from underneath the horse and it fell, shedding the soldier in his heavy gear from its back.

Bård watched in mute horror as the horse struggled to get back on solid ground, but in vain. In the meanwhile, Vegard had taken action. He realised there was nothing he could do for the poor horse, but he might be able to rescue the soldier. His companions had given up on him the minute he fell in, there was no honour among Tengil’s men, but Vegard’s conscience demanded him to help, despite the fact that the man was an enemy and in all likelihood would take him as a prisoner if he was saved.

There was a long branch that hung over the stream. Vegard climbed along it and when the soldier sailed past him, he reached down and grasped his clothes. 

“Hold on!” he yelled over the roar of the fast flowing water.

The soldier desperately gulped for air and clung on to Vegard’s arm with a death grip. His clothes were expensive and thick, which also made them extremely heavy when wet. Vegard strained to maintain his clasp on the man and slowly inched backwards on the branch.

Bård watched from the bank and wanted to close his eyes, but at the same time didn’t dare even to blink in case Vegard slipped and fell. He squeezed his hands into white-knuckled fists and his nails carved red half-moon patterns into his palms, but he didn’t even notice. When he saw that Vegard’s strength was failing, he ran to the shore and reached in to help the soldier with his brother. Together they managed to haul him on solid ground and they all lay panting there, side by side.

When the soldier caught his breath, he turned his head to gaze at Vegard. A look of recognition flashed on his face: he clearly knew who Vegard was, but the soldier didn’t say anything. Apparently he was capable of some semblance of gratitude toward the savior of his life and he didn’t start yelling for back-up forces. Instead he just nodded curtly and without a word walked upstream, to the place where he had fallen into the water.

“We need to go, he’s going to tell he saw us as soon as he reaches the rest of his troop.”

“But you just saved his life! Are you sure he’s so ungrateful?” asked Bård, aghast.

“I’m positive. Tengil has chosen only unscrupulous men into his service and they feel no gratitude or loyalty toward anyone else but Tengil himself. We need to move. Now.”

The boys scrambled up and followed the soldier, since they too had to cross the river. They kept enough distance between them and the man, so he wasn’t able to see them. They reached the bridge soon, but it was still daylight. On the other side of the gorge they could see the rest of the fallen soldier’s group riding away, never looking back at the river. It seemed like they had forgotten all about their poor hapless comrade. The half dozen soldiers that were still together made a big racket as they rode and their voices multiplied in the rocky walls that surrounded all of them, masking any noise that Bård and Vegard might make. 

“We need to wait for the nightfall, otherwise we’ll be too exposed,” Vegard said.

The boys drew into the safety of some bushes and even when a new group of soldiers crossed the river, the men didn’t see them. It was only a few hours until nightfall but the time moved with a snail’s pace, probably because of the sense of urgency they felt about getting to Orvar in time. 

“Vegard?” Bård asked

“What?” Vegard said, a hint of annoyance in his voice. 

“Will you play a game with me?”

Vegard had a denial on his lips, but he realised Bård was probably bored to tears. “Okay…”

“I spy with my little eye…something white,” Bård said.

Vegard looked around. “A cloud,” he said. 

“Nope!” 

“A stone?”

“No,” Bård said and giggled.

“My teeth?” Vegard queried.

“NOOO!”

“What do you mean no? My teeth are perfectly white,” Vegard said.

“Yeah, sure they are. Not your teeth, guess again!”

Vegard looked around again, more carefully this time. 

“Ha! I know, it’s birdpoop!”Vegard announced.

“Woohoo, you got it! Well done, it only took you four tries,” Bård laughed.

The boys played the game for a good long while and when it was dark enough, Vegard peeked out from their shelter.

“Come, the coast is clear,” he said softly.

The brothers cautiously approached the bridge and started crossing it. The water roared white and wild underneath them and suddenly a bright flame lit the air.

“What’s that?” Bård squeaked.

Before Vegard could answer, a massive bellow was heard. It was so loud it shook the bridge and Bård grasped Vegard’s hand so tight it left marks on him. Vegard took Bård into the shelter of his arms and they stood together in the middle of the bridge, shaking like leaves.

“It’s Katla,” Vegard whispered in Bård’s ear.


	11. The prisoner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The brothers find Orvar in a cave

“We need to go closer,” Vegard said.

“No, Vegard, the dragon is there,” Bård pleaded.

“So is Orvar. Don’t worry, Katla is chained to the wall of the mountain, he can’t get to us.”

“Why would a dragon let itself be imprisoned like that?”

“Tengil found a horn that has the power to command the dragon. That’s the reason he rose to power in the first place,” Vegard explained. 

“So, if we could steal the horn, we could order Katla to burn Tengil to a crisp!”

Vegard turned to look at his gentle little brother, who looked veritably bloodthirsty at that moment.

“What’s wrong Bård? It’s not like you to say something so ruthless.”

“Seeing the beheading changed how I view things now,” Bård said. ”Before it Nangijala felt like a beautiful dream that was occasionally exciting. Afterwards it has felt increasingly more like a nightmare.”

Vegard gave Bård a quick squeeze. _I’m so sorry you’ve lost your innocence,_ Vegard thought. _I would gladly give my life if it helped you to get it back._

The brothers sneaked over the bridge and kept in the shadows the best they could as they neared the cave where Orvar was held prisoner. The mouth of it was well lit and guarded by two burly soldiers that stood on both sides of the opening. 

“We can’t go that way,” Vegard stated the obvious. “There has to be another entrance somewhere!”

“Look!” Bård breathed when he saw a fox disappear into a hole on the side of the mountain, a bit higher up than the main entry point. “That might be a way,” he said.

“Yeah, let’s take a look,” Vegard agreed.

The boys moved as quietly as they could and soon reached the point Bård had noticed.

“You were right,” Vegard said excitedly to his brother. “Well done!” he added.

Vegard saw Bård’s cheeks blush in the dim light and a grin creeping into his face, lifting the corners of his mouth. It made Vegard smile too: it was always a joy to make his brother happy.

“It looks quite narrow, are you sure we can go through there?” Bård asked, worried.

“We’ll have to,” Vegard stated.

The boys managed to squeeze through the narrow gap between the stones and they scrambled toward the light they saw shining ahead of them in the darkness. Suddenly they heard loud footsteps and voices. Vegard took a hold of Bård’s shoulder and pulled him closer, more securely into the shadows. They couldn’t see what was happening, but could hear perfectly fine.

“Here’s your last meal, Orvar,” said one of the voices. “Katla will have a nice breakfast of you in the morning, so be sure to finish your food,” he said. There was a hocking sound and a wet noise when a loogie landed on a soft surface.

“I hope you enjoy it,” said the same voice and then raucous mocking laughter erupted from the men. 

Bård could feel Vegard’s body tense with barely contained rage. He put his hand on Vegard’s back and made small soothing circular motions to relax him. After the soldiers left, the boys sneaked closer and were hit by an almost tangible stench of human refuse. Bård gagged and shivered involuntarily.

The cave was well lit and they could see a small cage, where someone crouched. The cage wasn’t quite tall enough for the person to stand up straight, nor was it wide enough for him to lie down fully stretched out. 

“Orvar?” Vegard whispered.

The man in the cage lifted his head.

“Vegard?” came the hoarse reply.

“Yeah, we’re here to get you out!”

“Go away before the soldiers see you!” he said vehemently. “There’s absolutely nothing you can do for me, they will feed me to the dragon at daybreak and that’ll be the end of it.”

There was a deterministic quality to Orvar’s words; it was the voice of a man who had come to terms with the idea of death that awaited him in only a few short hours. Bård and Vegard glanced at each other. They had an identical look on their faces: there was no way they’d let Orvar die without a fight.

They moved closer, their eyes watering from the smell, but they were resolute to find a way to get the man out, so it didn’t slow them. Carefully they moved around the cage, studying every inch, trying to find a way to break in. Vegard spotted an imperfection on the structure and excitedly called Bård to his side.

“I think this is our chance,” he said and showed Bård a place on the surface where one of the bars of the wooden cage looked a bit looser than the others. Bård eyed it dubiously, but nodded to Vegard.

“Sure. How do we do it?” he asked.

“I don’t know yet, we don’t exactly have a collection of tools handy and we can’t make any noise either.”

“How about this?” asked Bård and produced a small folding knife from his pocket.

“Oh yes, that’s absolutely perfect,” Vegard said happily.

At this point, Orvar begun to show interest at in what the boys were talking about. A faint glimmer of hope shone in his eyes.

“Is there any way I can help?”

Vegard shook his head. “Sorry, but no. You need to gather your strength, _when_ we get you out, you’ll have to run.”

Orvar nodded seriously and began stretching his arms and legs the best he could. He accidentally knocked over the brimming pail he used as a toilet and Bård turned green at the gills.

“Excuse me,” he said and quickly moved as far as he could, turned his back and threw up. He came back pale and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

“I’m sorry,” he said meekly.

Vegard pressed a kiss on his clammy forehead.

“It’s ok. But we need to get to work now, the time is running short.”

They took turns with the little knife, slowly gnawing at the hard wood, making the bar looser, until it was enough to force it off the cage. Orvar tried the gap, but it was still too small for him. He groaned with frustration.

“It’s no use,” he said. “There’s no way you’ll get another one off in time.”

“It isn’t over until it’s over,” said Vegard and attacked the next bar with new vigour.

The dim light from the mouth of the cave kept getting stronger and there was an air of desperation in Vegard’s movements.

“Try now,” he said and Orvar pushed the bar with his feet, while the boys pulled it. It came loose with a resounding crack and they would’ve been caught if Katla hadn’t chosen to roar at the exact same time. Together the brothers dragged Orvar out from the cage and he stood in the middle of the cave, his legs shaking and barely able to move resulting from his imprisonment ordeal. 

“Come on,” Vegard said and pulled Orvar’s hand. “They’ll be back any minute now.”

The man stumbled after the youngsters, desperate to get his legs to do his bidding, managing only partially. Bård was the first one out of the escape route, followed by Orvar. It was hard to squeeze him through, but thanks to his poor diet in the past week and the extra slick layer of excrement, the boys managed to get Orvar to the other side. Not long after they did it, the soldiers came to get Orvar.

“What the hell? Where is he?” said one of the soldiers. “Find him! It’s either his head or ours!”

The escaping trio had made their way to the bridge at this point and when the alarm rang in the air, they were out in the open for all to see.

“Please try to hurry,” pleaded Vegard.

It was hard for Orvar to run after being crammed into a space too small for a man his size. Orvar tried so hard it brought tears to his eyes. _I have to make it, these boys won’t leave me behind and if I’m too slow, we’ll all end up dead._

As if by miracle, they scrambled over the bridge before they heard the baying of the blood hounds. The noise caused a burst of adrenaline that helped them to the horses in time, panting and gasping for air. Right then the boys realized there was one thing they hadn’t taken into account. There were only two horses, but three riders.


	12. Hard decisions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bård and Vegard make a hard choice.

Bård and Vegard helped Orvar on Fjalar. Vegard climbed on Grim’s saddle and extended his hand to Bård. 

“Come on, we need to go!”

Hesitantly Bård took his brother’s hand and was surprised at the strength in Vegard’s arm when he pulled him up. He sat behind Vegard and gripped on his waist. Orvar and Vegard urged the horses into a trot: it was too dangerous to gallop on such a precarious path. Even when they weren’t moving too fast, it was clear that Grim couldn’t keep up with two riders on board, she fell further behind Fjalar all the time despite her efforts. Bård felt a nervous sweat trickling down his back. He realised there was no way they could stay ahead of the pursuers if they all were astride. 

“Vegard?” said Bård questioningly.

“Yeah?”

“You need to leave me behind.”

Vegard snorted.

“No way. Don’t be absurd!”

“Listen, you have to hear me out now,” Bård said seriously. “I’m sure you can see for yourself that Grim isn’t cut out for carrying two people, we’re lagging behind worse and worse. If you drop me off at the tree where we rescued the soldier from the stream, I can climb really high and they’ll never find me.”

“NO!” Vegard yelled. “I won’t allow you to risk yourself like that!”

“But this isn’t about what you want,” Bård said gently. “It’s about the Thorn Rose Valley and the resistance and all those people. You are needed in the resistance. There isn’t much I can do for them, so please let me at least do this, Vegard. You need to make sure Orvar gets there. And I’ll be safe up in the tree, I’ll just wait until you come and get me, ok?”

Vegard drew in a shaky breath. He knew in his head that Bård was making all the sense in the world, but his heart was the one that couldn’t accept it. He was feeling a tightness in his chest at the mere thought of putting Bård in danger yet again. Still he knew it had to be done.

“Okay,” he said quickly, before he could change his mind.

Bård squeezed him harder.

“Thank you.”

“Orvar!” Vegard raised his voice.

When he slowed down, Vegard explained the plan. Orvar would go on at a slower pace, while Vegard would take a detour and drop Bård off. They proceeded like that and soon Grim stopped underneath the tree. Bård carefully stood up on Grim’s back and Vegard helped him up a tree branch.

“Are you sure you’ll be ok?” Vegard asked with deep concern in his voice.

“Yes Vegard, I’ll be absolutely fine, go on now! And we’ll see each other sooner than you even realise.”

Vegard nodded, waved his hand and rode away at a quick pace. He didn’t have the heart to turn to look at little Bård, high in a tree, all alone. He bit his lip to keep the tears at bay and urged Grim to go even faster. The sooner his task was done, the sooner he could see Bård again. And he would, he refused to even consider any other possibilities.

****

Bård looked at Vegard’s figure that was quickly diminishing as he got further away. He could see his back was as stiff as a board, like he was angry. But Bård knew he probably just felt as devastated as he did himself, perhaps even more.

Bård climbed as high as he dared and then tied himself onto a branch with his belt. _Now I can sleep safely without having to worry about falling off,_ he thought. The idea of sleeping without Vegard by his side brought tears to his eyes, but he shook his head angrily. _I need to be a big boy about this, it doesn’t help if I cry all the time like a baby. There’s really nothing to cry about. I’m safe, he’s safe and we’ll see each other soon,_ he thought resolutely and wiped away an errant tear.

In his anguish, Bård had forgotten about the blood hounds. Suddenly their baying was really close and Bård could feel his mouth dry up from fright. _I’ll have to be really quiet now, else they hear me and eat me,_ he thought. Bård tried to shrink into an even smaller space than he already occupied. The noises of the dogs and men got closer and stopped underneath him. He could see flashes of armour gleaming in the sun from the interstices between the leaves. He felt so scared he almost didn’t dare to breathe, but to his great amazement no-one tried to shake him down from the tree, instead they changed direction and went where Vegard had gone.

For a moment Bård was too relieved to understand what had just happened, but eventually he figured the dogs were following Grim’s tracks. Since Bård hadn’t stepped on the ground, nobody had any idea he was up in the tree. As he was listening to the sounds the dogs made, he stopped being worried for himself and began worrying about Vegard and Orvar instead. _Did they get a long enough head start?_ he thought and felt a chill run down his spine.

****

Grim trotted fast and soon caught up with Orvar and Fjalar.

“I think you should take these,” Vegard suggested and gestured at his garb and the helmet hanging from the saddle.

“What about you?” asked Orvar. “Your hair and eyes are more easily recognizable than mine.”

“Never mind that. I’ll just pull a hood up,” Vegard said, handed Orvar the tunic, then unfastened the helmet and gave it to him as well. 

Orvar looked very impressive as a Tengil’s man, if you ignored his dirty, hairy face and his hunched back. 

“Can you sit up straight?” Vegard asked.

“Sorry, no,” Orvar grimaced after trying. “I have a bad muscle cramp.”

“It’s okay,” Vegard assured him. “I’m sure they won’t look at your back so hard,” he said. 

The words sounded hollow even in his own ears, he hated lying.

Their progress looked good, the baying of the hounds was far behind them and the path got easier the further away from the mountain they got. They stopped for lunch a couple of hours later and Vegard realised he hadn’t left any food for Bård. _Oh crap. Not only is he alone and scared, but he’s gonna be absolutely famished by the time I get back to him!_ After that thought Vegard didn’t much feel like eating anymore, but he forced down some bread because he knew it would take a lot out of him to get back to the Thorn Rose Valley.

Lunch over with, Orvar and Vegard got back on the horses. Not much later they heard someone getting closer, approaching from the way they were going. There was a small hill ahead and they could hear them but not see them. Both looked around for a place to hide, but they were on an open area and there wasn’t anything there that was bigger than a bush, certainly nothing big enough to hide two horses. So there was no other choice than to move forward.

Orvar rode first and Vegard saw him trying to correct his posture, but in vain. He guessed there was a pained expression on Orvar’s face. _Maybe it’ll pass for fierce,_ he thought. 

The sounds got closer and when they were close enough for Vegard to see their faces, he paled. The soldier he had saved was one of them. Their gazes locked for a fraction of a second and then the soldier looked away without saying a word. 

Vegard was about to sigh from relief when another soldier yelled aloud: “It’s Ylvisåker, the young rebel we’re looking for!”

Both Orvar and Vegard rose up in their stirrups and kicked their heels on the sides of the horses to make them run as fast as they ever could. Luckily the area was open enough for them to pass the group opposite them. It caused some confusion in the soldiers when the pair suddenly was coming right at them at full speed and precious time was lost when they had to turn their horses around to face the way they’d come. The soldiers’ gear was also a lot heavier than what Orvar and Vegard were wearing so that also made it easier for the pair to escape.

Vegard was breathing heavily as he urged Grim to go faster. _This is the ride that will decide the fate of the Thorn Rose Valley,_ Vegard thought as the bushes and other plants blended into a green blur on the side of his field of vision. Orvar meant everything to the rebellion and if he was lost, there was a good chance that the last seeds of hope for the valley would die with him.


	13. To each what they deserve

Bård hunched up on his tree branch. He felt cold and hungry, but didn’t want to get down from the heights, he was too afraid of getting caught. He tried to forget his misery by leaning back and gazing at the stars; the sky was ablaze with their light and his view was almost unobstructed. He stared up and thought about his brother. It had been so hard to let him go on alone. _Please be ok, Vegard, and come back to me. I’d do anything to have you with me right now. I don’t want to be here without you._

***

The horses’ steps became unsteady with exhaustion. It was dark already and they had ridden almost non-stop since lunch. Vegard knew they’d have to rest, even when it was only a few hours more to the Thorn Rose Valley. Orvar had noticed something and lifted his fist as a sign to stop. The tall trees surrounding the path made it hard to see anything, but Orvar had keen eyes. Vegard pulled Grim’s reins and the horse halted, swaying gently for tiredness. Vegard slid down as quietly as he could and stood on shaky legs. Orvar dismounted as well and gave Fjalar’s reins to Vegard, sneaking closer to whatever he had seen ahead. As Orvar disappeared among the thick bushes, Vegard felt nervous butterflies flutter in his tummy. _Please don’t let it be anything bad,_ he thought.

All of a sudden Orvar laughed a full belly laugh, his low voice booming in the silence.

“Come here, boy, it’s all good!”

Vegard walked forward with the horses, dragging his feet, he was really too tired to do anything else. Soon he too spotted Sofia and Orvar sitting by the fire, roasting something small on a spit. It looked so cozy and the food smelled so good it brought tears to Vegard’s eyes.

“Sofia!” he sniffed and would’ve run to her if his legs had only co-operated. As it was, he had to resort to a near-normal walking pace.

“Vegard, my dear boy,” Sofia said as she stood up. “Come here, let me see your face.”

Vegard went to her and pressed his face into her hair as he hugged her. His breathing got a little uneven and he had to keep hugging her until he got a hold of his raging emotions. It was so good to see her again.

“Would you like something to eat? I have a rabbit roasting here, some cheese, bread and mead. Take your pick,” she urged.

Vegard felt so hungry and tired his whole body was shaking.

“Some rabbit, please,” he said. 

Eating reminded him of Bård and he asked: “Where are you headed?”

“Back to Cherry Valley, I took some supplies to the Thorn Rose Valley via Matthias’ tunnel.”

“Could you please go and get Bård?” he pleaded.

Sofia looked around.

“Yes, your little brother doesn’t seem to be here. Where is he?”

“He talked me into leaving him behind, he’s hiding in a tree near Katla’s cave.”

“Why would you _ever_ want to leave him behind?” 

Orvar took over.

“There wasn’t really a choice in the matter, we only had two horses and Grim wouldn’t have made it here with two riders, and the boy was smart enough to understand it. In essence, he saved us.”

Sofia nodded.

“Of course. I’ll leave as first thing in the morning.”

“You’ll have to leave now,” Vegard insisted. “He’s all alone and he has no food or warmth.” 

Sofia looked hesitant.

“I insist,” Orvar inserted. “I wouldn’t be here without him.”

Clearly Orvar’s plea meant more to Sofia than Vegard’s. She nodded again and began gathering her supplies.

Vegard offered her his own traveling blanket to take to Bård.

“Nonsense, I can give him mine, if need be,” she said.

Not five minutes later she was sitting in the saddle of her horse. 

“You two rest now, we’ll see again soon.”

“Bye Sofia, and thank you,” Vegard said sincerely.

He was feeling immensely better now that he knew Bård was getting rescued sooner than he’d expected.

“And thank you, Orvar, for convincing her to leave immediately,” he said, turning to look at the haggard man with his soft brown eyes that looked like melted chocolate in the firelight.

“Absolutely no problem. It was the least I could do for him.”

Vegard’s stomach growled. He knew Bård would get food soon, so his own appetite returned with a vengeance.

He still wasn’t hungry enough to forget his manners, though, and he asked Orvar: “Would you like to have some rabbit first?”

Orvar smiled at the young man.

“No, I think it’s a bit too strong for my stomach after fasting for days. I’m perfectly happy with bread and cheese, thank you.”

Vegard’s fingers felt clumsy when he struggled to get the rabbit off the spit, and in the end Orvar had to lend him a hand. Juices from the meat ran down the sides of Vegard’s mouth when he bit into the soft and tasty rabbit. 

“Ooh,” he moaned. “This has to be the best meal in the world!”

Orvar chuckled.

“Anything is, after spending time in the fresh air!”

After filling their bellies they wrapped their blankets around themselves and just lay there, their feet toward the fire. Vegard’s eyelids felt heavy and his blinks got slower and slower. Finally a soft snore could be heard emanating from him. 

Orvar looked at the boy by his side and he shook his head. His thoughts went back to the endless hours he had spent in the cage and how he had felt when he had seen the brothers approaching him in the dim light and the desperation that had engulfed him when the morning had crept closer. _If it wasn’t for you and your brother, I’d be a meal for the dragon by now._ He remembered the story Sofia had told about Vegard, how he had ended up in Nangijala and he surmised _You are made of sterner stuff than many grown men are, the both of you. We are so lucky to have you here in the time of our greatest need._

***

Sofia rode away, grumbling to herself in a condescending tone: “Please go now.” _Like that snot-nosed brat couldn’t wait a few more hours. But nooo, let’s ask Sofia to go so we can have a nice warm meal and a good night’s sleep._ She rode briskly, only stopping briefly a few times to water her horse and grab a quick snack to herself. She was traveling alone, so she also evaded soldiers quite easily.

She reached the tree early in the morning and called softly: “Bård, where are you?”

“Sofia?!” Bård exclaimed from above her. 

“Yes, it’s me. Come on down, boy.” 

Bård quickly unfastened himself from the tree and descended. 

“

Oh, I’m so happy to see you,” he said with blue lips and chattering teeth. 

“Darling, you must be so cold. I’ll help you up and you can wrap yourself in a blanket.” 

Bård thankfully took her hand and clambered up her horse to sit behind her back. He got the blanket, buried himself in it and leaned on Sofia. The warmth of her body felt so nice he almost forgot how hungry he was. His stomach made a loud protest to remind him and Bård could feel Sofia’s body shake with laughter. 

“Just try to hang on until we get to a safer place and can stop for lunch,” she said. 

“Okay,” Bård sighed. 

Lunchtime came and went without Bård realising it, he had dozed off in the warmth. He woke up to the sound of horse hooves. 

“Wha…” he started, confused, but was struck dumb when he saw whom they had run into. It was Hubert the Hunter and Jossi the Innkeep. Bård couldn’t utter a single word for his shock. 

They rode together to a place further away from the path and stopped. There was gentle slope with a piece of rock jutting out, leading into a sharp drop, a crag with a collection of rocks far underneath. Bård sneaked to the edge but backed off quickly after seeing the bottom. Hubert began putting up a fire and finally Bård managed to open his mouth. 

“He’s the traitor!” he squeaked and pointed at Jossi. 

All three adults turned to look at Bård. Their faces reflected puzzlement, but for different reasons. Sofia and Hubert were incredulous and Jossi was shocked how Bård could know. Sofia was quick to grab Bård’s ear and was squeezing it uncomfortably. 

“Why would you ever say such a mean, hateful thing?” she enquired. “I thought you were a nice little boy, but I see that I was sorely mistaken. These things are serious, not jokes!” 

“Oww,” Bård complained. “Stop it! I can prove it if you just let go off my ear,” he said and Sofia released her grip. 

“What do you mean with proof?” asked Sofia, suspicious. 

“Ask him to open up his shirt!” Bård said. 

“I will do no such thing,” Jossi said indignantly. “It takes more than a snot-nosed brat to…”

Before he could even end his sentence, Hubert had taken a hold of his collar and with a single forceful yank the front of Jossi’s shirt was torn open. There it was, plain as day, the mark of Tengil. 

Sofia gasped in horror, but Hubert began growling menacingly. Jossi took a step back, his face paling, he clearly felt threatened by the large man. 

“Why?” whispered Sofia weakly. 

“I had to protect my property and my nephew. They said they’d seize both if I didn’t co-operate. But if I did, they said they’d reward me handsomely and give me a chance to expand my business…”

Jossi had started vehemently, but his voice got smaller the further he talked. Bård thought it was because this was probably the first time he’s stopped to consider his own motives and had found them lacking. Hubert moved closer, murder in his eyes. There was no excuse good enough to justify to him the fate of his family. 

Jossi caught his eyes and whimpered. Then he backed up, toward a precipice. Bård was about to warn him, but a look from Sofia kept him quiet. When Jossi stepped into the empty space behind him, his face became a mask of pure terror. But it was too late already, he fell down and landed on the rocks beneath him with a sickening crunch. When Bård made a move toward the abyss, Sofia put a hand on his shoulder. 

“No Bård, let him be, he made his own choices and now he has been made to face the consequences.” 

Bård whimpered quietly. He knew Jossi had deserved what he got, but it still wasn’t any less gruesome. He almost wished he hadn’t said anything, but only almost. 


	14. The uprising begins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys are united once more and serious things are afoot

Sofia, always the practical one, said: “Now that the informer is out of the picture, it is time to regroup and get back to the Thorn Rose Valley. I’m sure Orvar and Vegard are eagerly waiting for our return.”

“I’ll check my traps on the way there, perhaps we’ll have some nice rabbits to take to them.”

Bård was baffled by how calmly and normally both adults were taking Jossi’s death. To him it seemed like the death had only been a minor inconvenience to them, more than anything. _It was terrible how Jossi died,_ Bård thought. He was shocked, but also perhaps a bit relieved that he was gone now. After all, he had posed a real threat to Vegard. _Am I trying to talk myself out of feeling guilty about his death?_ Bård wondered. _Because I am feeling that, there is no doubt about that. It’s just that there really isn’t that much of it. I think Hubert probably would’ve killed him if he hadn’t fallen down. Or Sofia. It probably wouldn’t have made any difference to the length of his life, whether I had warned him or not,_ he surmised.

His train of thought made him shiver. _Am I turning into Sofia now? It seems she has no scruples about anything. I think Vegard would’ve warned Jossi, regardless of his evil deeds. He’s a good person like that. I am not like him, I’m not selfless. I will always put my love for him before everyone else, that’s for sure._

“Let’s go, Bård,” Sofia said, and obediently he hoisted himself behind her on the back of her horse.

It was boring to sit behind someone and not ride himself, so the steady rhythm lulled him to sleep. They stopped several times on the way when Hubert checked his traps, but Bård was only vaguely aware of it. He didn’t wake properly until they stopped for the night. He had some food and fell asleep again in the warmth of the fire, with his belly full. The night before took its toll.

***

Vegard woke up shivering lightly in the chill of the morning and immediately his thoughts flew to Bård. He hoped that Sofia had reached him already and that he was happy and warm. Vegard clambered up and lit the fire. The small flames warmed his hands wonderfully as he rubbed them together in the heat.

“Orvar,” he said softly to the man.

He had been sleeping soundly, but woke up with a start upon hearing Vegard’s whisper. He looked around with a bewildered expression on his face but soon broke into a smile.

“Vegard!” he greeted the boy. “Aren’t you just the most wonderful sight to see early in the morning!”

Vegard grinned back at him.

“I think that’s the imprisonment talking! But good morning to you too,” he chuckled. “Would you like to have some breakfast?”

“I’d love some!”

The man and the boy sat in the silence of the morning, eating their rations and each reflecting on the previous day.

“I think we should move on,” Orvar said as soon as they were done.

“I agree,” Vegard nodded.

They quickly gathered their things, doused the fire and left, leaving only dimly glowing coals behind them. A few hours later they had reached the end of Matthias’ tunnel.

“Oh crap, what do we do with the horses?” Vegard exclaimed.

“Don’t worry, there is an old widow, who lives nearby, on this side of the fence. We can take the horses there, they’ll be safe.”

“Oh, that’s so good to hear! Let’s go do that and then get to Matthias’.”

“That sounds great.”

Soon they were back, all had gone well with the widow who was happy to help them. They crawled through the tunnel, even Orvar made it through, but just barely. The tunnel just wasn’t made for people with wide girth.

Matthias had heard someone coming through the tunnel and was waiting to greet whomever appeared, either with a smile or a blade. 

“Vegard, Orvar, so great to see you!”

Matthias was tactful enough not to comment on Orvar’s looks, he just hugged them both warmly. 

“Would you like to have a bite to eat?”

“Would we ever! I am starving,” Orvar laughed. “Need to get my strength back,” he grinned and patted his sizeable middle. 

“Indeed!” Matthias smiled and pointed to the stairs. “After you.”

Vegard and Orvar had a quick wash and changed into clean clothes before the meal. 

“It’s so nice to be clean again and eat at a table like civilized people,” Vegard sighed happily.

The grown-ups smiled back and they all tucked into the food, which soon vanished into their hungry mouths. 

“So, I guess I’m getting the two of you as my houseguests for now, huh? I hope you can both fit in my hidey-hole.”

Suddenly Matthias realised Bård was nowhere to be seen.

“But where is your brave little brother?” he asked Vegard.

Vegard told him the short version of the events and concluded: “We’re expecting them back here later today or early tomorrow.”

Matthias nodded.

“Would you be so kind and move into the more secure quarters for now?” he asked. “The soldiers have been making spot-checks, so they can pop by any time without a prior warning. Better safe than sorry,” he said in a singsong voice.

Orvar intensely disliked the idea of sitting in such a small space, with another person no less, but he went in without a word. With Orvar there, it felt a bit too crowded for Vegard as well, but he didn’t complain, it was good to be safe. They sat as comfortably as they could, Vegard by a small table and Orvar on the bedding with his legs stretched out, leaning back on his arms.

“It is so convenient Mathias has a place like this for us, you know,” Orvar said as he looked at Vegard, who had a faraway look on his fine-featured face.

“Mhh?” Vegard made a questioning sound. “Oh yeah, it’s very nice that he has it, it has literally saved my hide a few times already. And it is a good thing there aren’t any more of us needing shelter!”

Orvar chuckled.

“Yes indeed!”

The little exchange helped him relax a bit and he laid down with his arms behind his head. When he started snoring Vegard didn’t even notice, he was too pre-occupied thinking about his brother. _I do hope Sofia has found him and everything is all right. I am sure he is, snacking happily on Sofia’s provisions,_ he pondered. But then he felt a chill that came unbidden. _What if something happened after all? If he isn’t ok?_

That was something Vegard didn’t want to even consider, but since his imagination had gone there, there was no way he could stop the terrifying images of Bård being torn down from the tree, taken prisoner, branded… The deluge of that awake nightmare got worse as his head kept conjuring up increasingly horrifying scenarios. All of them ended the same way, with Bård dying before his eyes. _He is my ultimate Achilles' heel,_ Vegard thought as he drifted into a fitful, terror-filled sleep.

***

When the morning came, it only took a couple of more hours for Sofia and her company to get to the end of Matthias’ tunnel. 

“You go on Bård, and here is some food you can take to the people,” Hubert the hunter said and offered the rabbits to Bård. 

They felt light and soft under his hand and he had to fight the urge to pet the lifeless creatures. _They are food,_ he had to remind himself.

“Hubert and I will continue on a bit further and camp in the woods, there is a price on my head, after all,” Sofia said and turned her horse to face another way. “Send my love to Orvar, Vegard and Matthias,” she said before urging her horse onward. 

Hubert just waved at Bård and went after Sofia. Bård crawled through the tunnel dragging the rabbits with him. When he reached Mathias’ cellar, the old man was there to say hello, like he had been the previous day when Vegard had come through. 

“Bård! I am relieved you’re all right!” he said and hugged the boy warmly. 

“Matthias!” Bård squealed and squeezed him back. “It is so good to see you.” He looked up and asked tentatively: “Is Vegard here?” 

“Yes, of course. He’s in the hidden room with Orvar. Let’s go and see them.”

Bård quickly climbed the stairs and eagerly waited for Matthias, who took his time. Together they pulled down the curtains and opened the room entrance. Bård jumped on Vegard and would’ve tackled him down if he wasn’t prone already.

He hugged his brother and planted a sloppy kiss on his cheek, which made Vegard groan playfully and ask: “Seriously? We haven’t been apart long enough for _that!_ ”

Bård giggled and said: “Sorry Vegard, I was just so happy to see you again.”

“Me too!” Vegard said and hugged Bård back. “I was worried about you…” he continued.

“You silly, Bård laughed. “I was perfectly safe the whole time,” he claimed and decided not to tell Vegard about the near miss with the bloodhounds. “So what are we going to do now that Orvar is back?” he asked.

Vegard looked serious.

“We need to stage an uprising, so Tengil would come to quell it. Then we get our chance to steal the horn that rules the dragon,” he said in a half-questioning tone to Orvar and Bård. 

“Yes, that is an excellent idea. We need to gather up and make enough weapons that we’ll have a fighting chance,” Orvar said. “Although the main goal will be the horn.”

Matthias, who was standing by the entrance nodded as well.

“That sounds like an excellent plan. I’ll send word to Cherry Valley, so they can pitch in as well, the fighting will be focused here, after all,” he said.

“Agreed,” Vegard nodded.

“I guess Matthias and I will go around and spread the word about the uprising and Orvar, right?” Bård asked, excited for the chance to do something very important.

“Indeed, my lad,” Orvar said to him. “You’ll do great,” he added.

Bård grinned, his whole demeanor shouting: “I know!”

Bård’s happiness was infectious and Vegard chuckled at his eagerness.

“Be careful though,” he said.

“Always,” Bård answered.

Matthias skinned the rabbits and put them hanging in the shed before they could leave and Bård was almost squirming with anticipation by the time Matthias was done. Finally they got going and it was wonderful to see how people’s faces lit up upon hearing of Orvar’s safe return and of the chance of fighting back. It was good for the morale to have Orvar there, he had lived in Thorn Rose Valley for a long time and he had become one of the first to stand against Tengil and his ideology. People knew him and trusted him and thought of him as the head of the resistance. But there was something the villagers were unaware of, it was in fact Vegard, who was the brains behind the battle plans. It would’ve been hard for the people to stand behind a teenager, so Orvar had agreed to stay in charge, for appearances sake. Vegard didn’t mind that Orvar got all the credit, he didn’t do it for the fame, but to keep Bård safe. 

All in all it took a few days of sneaking behind the soldiers’ backs and gathering, making and distributing weapons since it naturally was forbidden to have them. But in the end the village was ready for battle. Well, as ready as a group of untrained villagers could be, anyway. What they lacked in skill, they made up with will and determination. 

Tengil had placed about a dozen guards in the town, because he had deemed it rather important strategically. The soldiers were well armed and armored, plus they had collected away all the weaponry in the village, or so they thought. There weren’t any fighting-aged men in the village, so Tengil believed his men had the situation in control, but he hadn’t taken into account that there were still women and old men there. When the villagers, their numbers strengthened by the members of the resistance from Cherry Valley, attacked them, they didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell. They were completely outnumbered and caught by surprise. Despite their superior weapons they lost and were ruthlessly slaughtered where they stood, except for the one that they let get away on purpose. 

The soldier ran as fast as he could and at his last legs he finally reached Tengil’s camp.

“Sir,” he gasped at his master.

“What?” 

“The villagers of Thorn Rose Valley are revolting and your men have been slain. I was the only one who managed to escape!”

“Are you telling me that a bunch of unarmed peasants managed to kill my trained, armed men?”

“Sir, yes sir!” the soldier confirmed.

“And why didn’t they kill you?”

“Sir, I managed to escape,” the soldier answered in an unsure voice.

“So you just – left?”

“Yes, sir,” he answered.

“You have clearly abandoned your post and your comrades. You deserve to die for it.”

“But sir, I’m just the messenger,” the man tried.

“Off with his head,” ordered Tengil and flicked his hand dismissively.

After disposing of the nuisance of the deserter, Tengil ordered his commanders together and let them know they’d be marching into Thorn Rose Valley in the morning.

The villagers left sentries to patrol the perimeter of the village and Orvar ordered everyone to their homes to get some sleep. The village was also evacuated of non-fighting people, like young children, so that those left behind wouldn’t have to worry about them. There wasn’t much sleeping happening that night, it was mostly spent praying and saying goodbyes, or in some cases, honing weapons to perfection. Such was the case with the widow, whose husband Tengil had executed. Her night was all about testing bowstrings and tying feathers to arrows. No chicken was spared from the serious task, all had to sacrifice some of their tail.

When the sentries sounded the alarm in the morning, everyone was prepared. There would be no mercy from their part.


	15. "I can see the light"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final battle

“I don’t think you should fight. As a matter of fact I don’t think you should be even in the same town where there is fighting,” Vegard announced.

“But Orvar said they need all able-bodied people, that means the women and children too.”

“No, that doesn’t mean you,” Vegard said. “You haven’t been well, and…”

“It’s poppycock, Vegard,” Bård interrupted. “And you know it. If you are going to be fighting, so am I and there’s nothing you can do about it, short of hogtying me and throwing me into jail. I am never leaving your side again, come hell or high water!”

Vegard sighed exasperatedly and looked at his only brother with a mixture of pride and annoyance. _Bård is so stubborn and loyal, so like Samwise Gamgee. But he’s my little hobbit and I don’t want him to get hurt._

“I don’t want to part from you either, but what if something happens? I couldn’t bear the thought of living without you again.”

“Well, right back at you, Vegard! If anything happened and I wasn’t there for you, I’d never forgive myself.”

“I guess that’s settled then,” Vegard sighed again. “I suppose the only thing for you to do is to choose your weapon,” he said and shook his head sadly. _It’s never gonna be the same again for him. Seeing death will make him a whole other person, who’s not my gentle little dove anymore._

When Vegard and Bård still lived in Bergen, they sometimes got to see Westerns from a small, flickering black-and-white television. The big fights in the movies were always spectacular, there were waving banners and bugle calls, and the grunts of exertion were drowned in the crescendo of orchestral music. But the reality of battle wasn’t so pretty.

When Tengil’s troops arrived, the gates to the town were shut tight. For a moment it seemed that there was a chance to keep them out: the defenders shot reams of arrows at the attackers from the rooftops and the children threw rocks. Then the gates were crashed down and the waves of dark-clad, armored soldiers marched in the town. The townsfolk stood their ground, behind their shoddy shields and makeshift weapons.

Hubert was the one that stood in the front and he was also the first to drop, but not before taking at least three of Tengil’s men with him to the darkness. The soldiers fought with practised precision, but they lacked conviction and that was what kept the villagers alive when they wielded their hay forks and clubs. Between the defenders there was the same camaraderie and loyalty there as in the movies, but also the flip side that the silver screen didn’t show: the sheer desperation, blood, sweat and tears.

Seeing their kith and kin slain left and right didn’t make the villagers shirk their responsibilities, it only made them more resolute. They knew if they gave up, they’d end up dead anyway. They were fighting a losing battle and when they heard a massive roar, they realised it would be all over soon. Katla had been brought to the scene of the battle and she would wipe out the rest of them. 

But what Tengil and his men didn’t realise was that the resistance knew about the horn that ruled the dragon. When the remaining members of the resistance heard her roar, they gathered together around Vegard and Orvar to receive their marching orders. Soon they spread out in three groups, led by Orvar, Sofia and Vegard. Each had their separate assignments but a common goal: to acquire the horn from Tengil. Sofia’s group approached Tengil from one side, her fighters trying to distract the soldiers from the more important group, Vegard’s, whose job it was to steal the horn. Orvar’s men closed in from behind, in order to wreak as much havoc as possible.

Bård was in Vegard’s group, the furthest away from the worst fray of the battle, a matter he had grudgingly agreed to, since he could always get closer without Vegard noticing. When Tengil’s men realised there was an organized attack afoot, many of them lost heart. They were hired muscle after all and probably felt the coins they got weren’t worth dying over. But the ones that stayed were all the more fierce, their loyalty bordering on fanaticism. The clang of metal against metal and the cries of fear and rage formed a terrible cacophony, but all the sounds were drowned both by the horn that ruled the dragon and the subsequent roar of the beast itself. The villagers redoubled their efforts in their desperation.

From his vantage point further from the battle Bård saw sweet old Matthias fall, slain by an errant arrow. He had a surprised expression on his face when he looked at the feathered shaft sticking out from his chest. He grasped it with two hands, like in an attempt to pull it out, but fell to his knees and eventually to his face, a trickle of blood sliding down the corner of his mouth. Bård swallowed, suddenly there was a big lump in his throat. He had really liked the gentle old man, he had been like the grandfather he had never had.

But the dragon was approaching with heavy steps and it seemed they were all doomed, up until the point when Vegard managed to reach Tengil. The boy’s soft features were twisted into a grimace, the feverish gleam in his eyes and the streaks of blood on his clothing made him seem like a warrior, enough so that Tengil hesitated, just for a moment, and it was all the time Vegard needed. He reached out his hand and grabbed the horn from the surprised Tengil’s hands and then blew into it to let the dragon know she had a new master. Katla’s eyes flashed with rage and she spat a fiery breath at Tengil, who burned to death, shrieking terribly. 

Vegard couldn’t help but to feel a pang of regret at Tengil’s death, no matter how evil he had been. But then he remembered Hubert and his family, the countless stolen children and all the misery he had caused and steeled his resolve. _This was the way it was supposed to go, Tengil deserved to die._

Vegard waved Bård to him.

“We need to take Katla back into the mountain,” he said.

“Why can’t someone else do it?”

“They have enough to do with Tengil’s men,” Vegard answered and looked around the battlefield, at the mud and the blood on the ground and the scorched places where the dragon fire had touched.

When the soldiers realised Tengil had lost his life, they were quick to flee or surrender. They had lost all their will to fight and the villagers had only gained more momentum after Tengil’s death. They rounded up the remainders of the attackers and disarmed them. Orvar was organising the people into groups, helping the wounded, guarding the prisoners and putting out the fires the dragon had left behind.

“Go get the horses, quickly,” Vegard told Bård, who nodded and did as he was bid.

As soon as Vegard had gotten the horn in his hands, the remainders of the resistance had flocked around him to shield him from any harm. When Bård returned with Grim and Fjalar, the boys mounted the horses and got on their way back to the mountain again, the dragon walking behind them. They rode ahead and the horses under them felt like tightly wound springs, acting skittish at every rustle, ready to break into a trot in the blink of an eye. The dragon made them more nervous than Bård had thought was even possible.

They rode as fast as they dared and stopped only for the night, because the horses needed their rest. They did too, but the excess of adrenaline coursing through their veins made sure they were alert and didn’t tire so easily. When they set up for the night, they bound the horses tighter than usually, just in case of the dragon scaring them. Katla was close by, bound to the owner of the horn with invisible chains. The boys slept fitfully, not getting comfort even from their closeness. 

As soon as the first rays of light hit them, they woke up and went on their way again. They felt so tired, like their bones were made of lead. All their movements were slow and sluggish, same as if they were underwater. The tiredness was what made Vegard drop the horn around midday. The dragon was close enough to see it happen and the same instant she lunged forward, breathing fire. Both Grim and Fjalar reared up, blinded by terror, and almost shed the boys off their backs. The horses sped forward, faster than Katla, it seemed. It helped that the road was narrow and winding and it was impossible for the beast to use her wings as help. The boys leaned on the horses’ necks, all they could see was a green blur and there was nothing more they could do but to hang on the best they could.

Grim seemed to slow as they progressed, but they managed to stay far away enough so that they didn’t get burned. The horses were on their very last legs when they reached the gorge and as they almost flew over it, Grim missed a step and Vegard was dropped from the saddle. Luckily he was agile enough to end up on his feet, instead of his head.

“Vegard!” Bård sobbed when he saw there was no way Grim could get up, her leg had been broken and laid in an awkward angle. He too had gotten down from his horse.

Vegard drew his sword and said: “Here we make our last stand.” 

“No, Vegard, there has to be something we can do!”

Bård looked around desperately. He could hear the dragon approaching rapidly. He spotted a large boulder on the side of the mountain and it looked like something they could pry loose.

“There!” he said excitedly and pointed it out to Vegard. “We can roll that on Katla!”

Vegard looked doubtful, but sheathed his sword and climbed on the face of the rock with his brother.

“If we use our backs and legs it might actually work,” he said.

The boys positioned themselves on the topside of the boulder and started pushing it with all their might. Vegard could feel it loosen up a bit and said: “Wait. Now the dragon has to get closer for this to work.”

When Katla was crossing the bridge, Vegard yelled “NOW!” and with a forceful push they managed to make the stone move.

It rolled down, gaining momentum. When it hit Katla, there was nothing she could’ve done. Helplessly she fell from the bridge, into the white, roiling water. What made the water so frothy was a huge green snake that lived under the waterfall. When the dragon fell, she hit the snake and they started fighting. The water splashed emerald green and white, but soon was colored red by the blood of the monsters. The snake fought silently, but the dragon made enough noise for the both of them. She growled and bellowed and in the end whimpered. The beasts were of equal strength and ended up killing each other. Their lifeless bodies floated downstream, ready to feed small fish, landborne carrion eaters and birds. All would get their fair share.

The boys had followed the battle with fascination, but when it was over, Vegard was very pale and leaned heavily on the stones.

Bård helped him sit down and asked nervously: “Are you ok, Vegard?”

Vegard looked at him with a sad, weary look and said: “No, Bård, I don’t think I am.”

“What’s wrong,” sniffled Bård.

“Katla’s fire touched my legs, like it touched Grim’s and Fjalar’s too, I think. It didn’t kill any one of us right away, but it is like poison. I can’t feel my legs properly anymore, and I can sense it moving upward my body. When it reaches my lungs I won’t be able to breathe anymore.”

Bård didn’t need to hear more, he understood what would happen when it reached Vegard’s lungs. Tears welled in his eyes and he buried his face on Vegard’s chest. He wrapped his arms around Vegard’s body and held on, his shoulders shaking with sobs. He could feel Vegard’s hands holding him close. _I can’t take this. Why is he dying again? If he dies I don’t want to live anymore_ he thought.

Like Vegard had heard the workings of Bård’s mind, he spoke in a soft, soothing tone.

“Listen, this doesn’t have to be the end. There is a place where we can go, together. There is no more pain, no more fighting, no dragons, no sorrow. All we need to do is to jump down that cliff. You will have to carry me, since I cannot get there myself. Will you do this last favour for me? I swear that we’ll never have to be part again after we arrive to Nangilima. When we get there, there is no more death. It is evening here now, but in Nangilima it will be morning when we arrive. Matthias will be there to make us breakfast and Grim and Fjalar will wait for our arrival.”

As Vegard spoke, Bård’s sobs ceased and he lifted his head to gaze at his brother. His soft brown eyes burned with conviction and love and there was a ghost of a smile on his lips.

“Remember the first time I died?”

“Mhh,” Bård said with a low voice. 

It was something he didn’t want to think about, all those long weeks without Vegard, not knowing they’d see each other again, there had been just that dull ache of longing.

“When I got you in my arms and jumped, I didn’t even stop to consider what might happen to me. I just leaped and hoped you’d be all right, because I love you so much.” 

_I know he is brave, but does he have enough courage to do this? I am asking a lot and he is my baby brother,_ Vegard thought worriedly. 

Bård started sobbing again, softly and quietly. He thought how Vegard loved him so much he was ready to leap out of a window for him without a second thought. _I love you too, just as much._

“You know I will do it. I love you and I am willing to do anything for you, even this,” Bård said seriously. “But can we just wait a moment more, so it gets dark. I don’t want to see what is below when I jump,” he asked in a small voice.

“Sure, as long as we don’t wait too long, I can feel the poison moving upward,” Vegard agreed.

They sat for a little while on the cold ground, holding each other close for comfort. Vegard’s breaths were getting shallower and Bård knew he had to do it then. He squatted on the ground, his back turned to Vegard. Using his upper body strength Vegard managed to crawl on Bård’s back. He lay there like dead weight: he had lost all feeling below his waist and he could feel his breathing getting harder.

“Hurry,” he breathed laboriously.

Using the stones around them, Bård managed to get up on his legs. Vegard weighed on his back so much he could barely move forward. Slowly, step by step he managed to drag his brother to the ledge.

“You need to jump as far as you can now,” Vegard whispered.

Bård made a desperate leap forward and he felt Vegard’s grasp slipping already. He held on tight to his brother’s hands that lay on his chest. It was as if the time slowed down when they fell through the damp, dark air. Suddenly the air was no longer wet, but dry and fragrant, filled with the scent of cherry blossoms and instead of churning white water below, Bård could see clouds and patches of green. 

“Vegard!” he shouted excitedly. “Nangilima! I can see the light!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading everyone! I hope you've liked it :) I was a fool to even start writing this, but I am a sucker for "Oh, please someone write this!" posts ;) I hope the actual recipient (tumblr user smileandkeepyourmiddlefingersup) was happy with her gift and I hope it makes up for all the times I need her linguistic skills to help me :)


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